The Veil
by wierdscience13
Summary: Harry thought defeating Voldemort would be his biggest challenge, it's a shame he started messing about with artefacts better left alone.
1. Chapter 1

This is just an idea I had floating around in my head. If enough people are interested, I will continue it, it's not beta'd so there more than likely is mistakes. I'm not a writer this is just something I did to kill some time and the idea intrigued me.

The Veil

Harry potter sighed, rubbing his hand beneath his eyes while looking down at the book perched on his knees. He was in a chamber which resembled an amphitheatre of old, torches flickered in sconces surrounding the walls and where a stage would normally be a stone archway with a black curtain which seemed to flutter in a non-existent breeze sat upon a raised dais, it seemed to exclude a sense of despair and uneasiness.

Harry tilted his head, once again he heard whispers from beyond the veil but as usual, he couldn't decipher what they were saying. For maybe the tenth time this morning he wished Hermione was here, but she was undertaking her mastery in Transfiguration under Headmistress McGonagall and couldn't get away for the morning.

Since the defeat of Voldemort, the trio had returned to Hogwarts for their final year even though they should have graduated the year previously. Kingsley had offered them positions within the Ministry even without finishing school, Harry and Ron were eager to join the Auror department on a fast-track course, being heroes of the Wizarding War a lot of avenues were open to them however Hermione had convinced them to return to Hogwarts, initially Harry and Ron were resistant but Hermione had a way of making them see things her way and a normal school year with their friends and no Death Eaters, Dementors, Snatchers, Voldemort and all sorts of evil sounded like fun, they hadn't really had any downtime since Bill and Fleurs wedding, they had a short time recuperating at Shell Cottage but that was overshadowed with planning for their heist at Gringotts Bank. So, they returned to Hogwarts.

Harry got to spend more time with Ginny and initially it was a lot of fun and as if nothing had changed but the simple fact was after most of a year apart and the hardships, they both had suffered they weren't the same people anymore. After a few months they mutually decided they were better off as friends. It was awkward at first but after spending Christmas at the Weasleys they were back as good friends. Ron and Hermione had time as a couple away from the prying eyes of the press who plastered the Golden Trio over the front pages at any opportunity. It seemed like the saying of opposites attract really worked in their case, Harry had never seen Ron happier, he had grown as a person a lot since he returned to the trio, following the Deluminator back to them. Hermione had lost a lot of her strictness and adherence to rules, you were more likely to find them both snuggled up in the rear of the common room sharing a blanket and laughing about something random.

At the end of the year a ball was held not just to celebrate the graduation of another year of students but to also celebrate the end of the Wizarding War which had spanned generations. Childish grudges were put aside and looking around the Great Hall groups were chatting animatedly, no divisions between houses or blood were evident, that's not to say there still weren't pockets of dissention but McGonagall was a far different head than Dumbledore who always saw the good in people often to the detriment of others, she would tolerate no bigotry and with Kingsley in charge of the Ministry and Voldemort's supporters and blood purists routed it lead to a much more enlightened Wizarding world. Hermione even joked that they might enter the twenty first century.

Hermione was approached by McGonagall before leaving Hogwarts and offered the opportunity to apprentice under her in the art of Transfiguration something that Hermione jumped at, McGonagall being a long-time favourite of hers.

Harry and Ron were once again offered positions as Auror Trainees, however having a year to sit back and relax made them realise that their days of chasing dark wizards weren't good ones and not something they wanted to dedicate their lives to. Ron decided to help George with Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, since the death of Fred it had been a struggle for George and Ron wanted to help his brother and his family.

Kingsley called Harry into the Ministry one day, since he had turned down the Auror position he had spent his time fixing up Grimmauld Place, but the depressing atmosphere was getting to him so even a visit to the Ministry was something to look forward to. Which is how Harry Potter ended up as Trainee Unspeakable Potter. Harry always liked learning and the challenge of researching obscure magic and away from the eyes of the public was a major draw to him. The only thing he asked of Kingsley is that on his days off he would be free to study the Veil in the Death Chamber and that he could divulge to Hermione and Ron anything he found from his studies on the Veil.

Which is how Harry found himself staring at a nearly indecipherable page of ancient Latin while once again wishing for Hermione's presence. For eight months he had spent every weekend in the Death Room despite Ron and Hermione trying to get him to go out on dates or attend Quidditch matches, something he did rarely just to spend some time with his friends and stop their nagging.

Two months ago he had managed to activate a section of runes on the lower edge of the arch, or at least he thought he had, they glowed briefly and the Veil rose as if a strong wind was blowing against it and Harry could of swore that he saw buildings through the Archway but that could have been his imagination it happened so quickly.

Sighing, he closed the book before picking it up, returning his wand to his arm holster he exited the Death Chamber, he would return tomorrow and try with a fresh mind. All he wanted now was some food and some sleep, looking at his watch, a gift from the Weasleys on his seventeenth birthday he realised it was nearly eleven at night, no wonder he felt so tired.

The next day Harry arrived shortly after ten in the morning, a new selection of books from Grimmauld Place library held under one arm while in the other a large Styrofoam container of muggle coffee was held. Harry always thought it was amusing bringing something so decidedly non-magical into one of the most magical places in the country. Placing the books down he took a long drink of his coffee and not for the first time he thought the mixture was almost magical in nature. Sitting down he pulled the first book towards him, the Arch stood as always, silent and imposing, the Veil itself fluttering in a non-existent wind. Harry new the odds of him figuring out the working of the Veil of Death were slim but until he figured out what happened to Sirius, he still held out some slim hope that he wasn't lost forever, something his friends had tried to disabuse him from several times, but Harry was nothing if not stubborn.

Opening the book, the first thing Harry noticed is that it had no table of contents or even a foreword, closing it he looked at the spine, handwritten on the spine in what he hoped was red ink and not the alternative red liquid was four words, "The Veil of Death" Opening the book again Harry started to skim through it, a lot just seemed to be speculation, but it did reference various articles and books over the centuries which seemed to mention the Arch and Veil, according to the author, the same veil had travelled the world, appearing in widespread locations throughout the centuries. Harry wondered if in fact it was the same archway or there were more than one of them.

Skimming further on there were detailed sketches of the archway focusing on the rune clusters at shoulder height. Picking the book up Harry approached the veil, being careful to always maintain at least an arm's length of distance he held up the book while looking at the left column, they matched. Doing the same with the right again there was a match, Harry hummed to himself while walking backwards and forwards in front of the Archway, the book contained several pages of diagrams with what appeared to be wand movements, but the language was not something Harry was able to read or even identify. Slipping a piece of parchment in to keep his location, he started skipping pages seeing if there was a translation. The book was strange in that it appeared it had been written by different authors as some was in English although it seemed old fashioned, other parts were in Latin and what Harry though was Spanish and German, while some seemed oriental in nature.

Harry looked around making sure he was still alone, while the Death Chamber was usually empty, from time to time an Unspeakable would walk through on the way to elsewhere or just to converse. Pulling his wand from his holster he flipped the book back to his parchment marker, he had been warned about doing exactly what he was contemplating, performing magic that he was unaware of the consequences with backup. Harry was impatient though, being a Sunday only a skeleton crew maintained the Ministry so getting a partner to accompany him while he performed the magic if he could even get permission could take hours. He had performed small bits of magic before against the Arch and the Veil with varied results across the months, nothing untoward had occurred so he was prepared to take the risk.

Harry practiced the wand movements and the pronunciation of the strange language or what he thought the pronunciation should be, it appeared to be some derivative of Latin but with a strange syntax. Glancing around once more, Harry took in a breath and blew out slowly, steadying his right arm his Holly wand gleaming in the torch light, the Elder Wand was hidden in an inside pocket of his cloak along with the invisibility cloak and the stone of resurrection, he felt guilty that he made Hermione and Ron believe he had broken the Elder Wand and disposed of it but something made him conceal the fact he still had it from them, he had reclaimed the resurrection stone from the Forbidden Forrest. While Harry hoped that war was a thing of the past in the Wizarding World, he wasn't naive and knew that in the future anything could happen, he wanted to be prepared if that was the case. Sweeping his arm in a complex pattern Harry started chanting, at first nothing seemed to change but then a soft light seemed to emanate from the runes around the arch. The Veil itself seemed to flutter. Harry braced himself for something to happen but apart from the light and breeze nothing had changed. Harry started on the next page of diagrams, at the first upward flick of his wand and the murmured incantation the runes glowed with an intensity that made Harry squint his eyes, he hesitated for a moment and the glow abruptly faded away leaving the archway dark and foreboding as always. Sweat dripped down from his brow, the incantation and wand movements were strangely draining on him, he felt like he had expanded a lot of energy, moving to his seat he sat down with a shudder.

Taking a sip of coffee, he grimaced, the liquid was cold, he must of spent more time exploring the veil then he though, looking at his watch he saw it was just after twelve o'clock, he had spent nearly two hours at the veil but it only felt like he was there for ten minutes, no wonder he felt so drained. Harry quickly left the Death Room and made his way to the medical room within the Department of Mysteries, opening a cabinet he retrieved a few vials of Pepper-Up potion, draining one he immediately felt better, the strength returning to his limbs and he felt more alert. Shoving the rest of the vials in his robe pockets he hurried back to the Death Chamber.

This time Harry was determined to finish the incantation, he was tempted to drain another vial of Pepper-Up but decided to hold off, the hangover when you crashed from its overuse was not something Harry wanted to experience. Bracing himself, he once again held his wand in the starting position, holding the book in his left hand he began the wand movements and incantations. Now that he was aware of it, Harry could feel the power drain, it was subtle but definitely there, continuing once again the runes flared to life, the Veil fluttered more like it was agitated, Harry was half way down the second page when he felt an enormous drain, his right arm felt like liquid fire with the amount of energy which seemed to course through it towards the veil, the air smelled of ozone, tangy and unpleasant. Harry tried to pull his wand down breaking the connection to the veil but no matter how hard he pulled his arm refused to move, the pain was now becoming unbearable, sweat dripped into his eyes, stinging and blurring his vision, the brightness of the runes were so bright they were impossible to look at, just when he thought he could take no more there was an immense flash and then blackness.

Harry groaned, he felt like he had been run over by a herd of Hippogriff, slowly he sat up, the first thing he noticed was that he wasn't in the veil room anymore, he appeared to be in an abandoned building, all around him rubbish was strewn around as well as what appeared to be actual parts of the building, beams and bricks littered the place, holding out his wand casting a _lumos_ Harry tried to find an exit, seeing a hole in the corner he slowly made his way to it, crawling out he appeared to be in a small village or town, a street stretched out in front of him although the place appeared to be deserted, it was obviously a muggle place from the appearance, Harry reached into his cloak and pulled out a vial of Pepper-Up, draining it he immediately felt better and the intense ache he had felt inside turned to a dual ache, performing a quick _nox_ Harry placed his wand in its holster, even though it was dark if he was in a muggle place he needed to be careful about the statue if Wizarding Secrecy which safeguarded the wizarding world from the muggles and hid it's presence from the world at large.

Slowly he walked down what appeared to be the main street, rubbish was strewn about, and all the storefronts were boarded up and looked derelict. He noticed what appeared to be a trailer on the right-hand side of the street which contained a large sign.

**MANDATORY EVACUATION NOTICE**

ALL RESIDENTS OF AMHERST COUNTY AND ALL

OUTLYING AREAS ARE REQUIRED TO EVACUTE BY:

8:00 PM 10/17/13

Harry re-read the sign before it eventually made sense, the date had confused him at first as there aren't seventeen months in the year until he realised it was wrote the way Americans do with the month first but the year still made no sense, as far as he knew it was Sunday the fourteenth of Match 1999. Harry looked around confused, vehicles were abandoned at the side of the road, they were all in a terrible condition, tyres flat and rusting away, he slowly walked down the street, A camper was angled across the street, like the cars it was rusting away, behind it was a sheriffs car, Harry closed his eyes counted to five and opened them again, everything was the same, in front of him was something he had only ever seen on television, an American sheriffs car. "Sherriff. Amherst County" emblazoned on the side. Cautiously Harry walked further down the street, all the buildings had red and white evacuation notices on the doors and windows, everything seemed barred up tight, looking up a sign identified a shop as 'The Antique Gift Shop' beyond it was a barrier, it appeared to be made of salvaged materials, bits of fencing and other odds and ends. Strewn across the top was razor wire, it wouldn't make any difference to Harry, he could just apparate across or even destroy it but he decided to look around the buildings close to him and find somewhere he could just sit and gather his thoughts.

Walking back up a ways he noticed what appeared to be a record shop, Marquis Record Shop was on the sign which resembled an old Vinyl record, unlike a lot of the stores the door was open, stepping inside Harry was hit with the smell of decay and neglect, water damage was apparent, walking through the aisles there was still records on the shelves collecting dust, walking behind the counter was a darkened room, pulling out his wand and casting a quick _lumos_ and looking around there didn't seem much of interest, stands for drums and cymbals were pilled against the wall but nothing he could use or need, extinguishing his wand he exited the shop, for some reason he felt like he wasn't alone. Looking around nothing was apparent but the feeling persisted, keeping his wand in his hand he held it at his side so it was mostly hidden from view, stepping down an alleyway between the record store and the building next to it he was half way down when some creature came running towards the alley screeching a horrible clicking sound, suddenly a powerful explosion ripped through the air, Harry crouched covering his head and ears, feeling a shockwave of wind rush past him.

"What the fuck was that," Harry exclaimed.

Slowly walking forward, he crouched to examine what was left of the body, most of the limbs were missing, obviously blown off by whatever that was but it appeared to be a human apart from the head which looked unlike anything he had seen before. Standing up he used his foot to push the body over, the whole thing made him shudder before abruptly he bent to the side, expelling the contents of his stomach. Harry had seen a lot during the wizarding war but gruesome sights still got to him, spitting out the bile which remained in his mouth, Harry put the tip of his wand to his mouth, a small stream of water quickly filled his mouth, he removed the wand and gargled before spitting out the water, holding his wand to his mouth again he cast a breath freshening spell. Harry was indecisive of what to do, nothing made sense, from the date, to his location, the decay everywhere and the weird human hybrid creature. Harry decided against preceding further, he needed to hole up somewhere and get his bearings.

Backtracking he turned up the street, back towards where he initially arrived, stopping he gazed at a familiar site, an Irish bar. "Padden's. Established 1974" displayed across the top. Harry approached the door, Ivy covered half of it, using a few non verbal cutting charms and a vanishing spell he had the door uncovered, a quick _alohomora_ unlocked the door, entering cautiously Harry listened but the place appeared to be deserted. Approaching a booth, he cautiously sat down, the wood creaked but held, sighing Harry reached into his robe and pulled a length of twine from around his neck which was attached to a small pouch. Harry opened the top and pointed his wand in, a vial popped up into his hand, Harry took inspiration from Hermione's beaded bag and always carried his moleskin pouch with him with some essentials inside, a gift from Hagrid years ago. Taking off his robe he pushed it into the pouch, even though the pouch seemed far too small to contain it. Using his wand again he used a summoning charm and four small flat stones popped out into his hand, Harry stood up and moved to each corner of the room he was in, placing a stone in each, once they were all in place he tapped his wand on a stone and pushed a small piece of magic into it, a shimmering field of blue rose each up wall before crawling across the ceiling before appearing to sink into the walls and floor. These were ward stones of Hermione's creation, while they could use spells to create muggle repelling and protection, when they were on the run they needed a way to hide quickly, casting protection spells took too long so Hermione came up with the ward stones, they only needed to be placed around the area to hide and a small amount of magic was needed to activate them, they drew power from the ambient magic which was all around them and would keep working until one was removed.

Harry allowed himself to relax a bit, he knew with the stones in place he was as secure as he could be, pushing his arm into the pouch he started pulling out items to see where he stood. He had his wand, the Elder Wand, Resurrection Stone, Invisibility Cloak, several vials of Pepper Up and pain relivers, rooting around he pulled out a half-used potion kit, not much use, some ingredients, a pestle and mortar and a potions knife. Next, he pulled out some grease proof paper, opening it up revealed several sandwiches, Harry hungrily devoured them, looking at his watch it was nearly 4 PM, no wonder he was so starved, he had spent several hours wandering around this town. Reaching back into the pouch, he pulled out a square of cloth, placing it on the floor, he touched it with his wand, a wizarding tent started assembling itself. Harry gathered up the items he had emptied out of the pouch and entered the tent, with a groan he lowered himself down onto the couch. Pulling out a notepad and muggle pen, Harry paused before writing down what he knew. He was displaced in time and location, some sort of catastrophe appeared to have hit the town and there were strange human hybrids. He was exhausted, he decided to put up some more wards even though he trusted Hermione's ward stones just in case, after all with his strange experiences today anything was possible. Re-entering the tent, he entered the bedroom, stripping off his clothes he placed his wand on the bedside table, he debated taking a vial of Dreamless Sleep, but he only had two full doses and if something happened, he needed to be able to react quickly. Within minutes his eyes drooped, and he fell into a troubled sleep.

Waking up disorientated Harry quickly took in his surroundings, yesterday came back to him in a rush, so it wasn't a nightmare he thought. Slowly getting out of bed he entered the bathroom, taking care of his morning routing he sat on the couch, reaching into his beaded bag he pulled out another sandwich, he had stocked enough for seven days so he wasn't worried about food at the moment, standing up he approached the kitchen, opening a cupboard he smiled, reaching in he pulled out a jar of instant coffee, pointing his wand at the kettle, within moments it started whistling. Pulling a mug from a cupboard he added the coffee granules and poured the boiling water over them, sprinkling some sugar in his only regret was he forgot to add some long-life cream to the shelves, well black would have to do. Bringing the cup to his mouth he inhaled deeply, the smell of coffee filling his senses, he gently blew on the liquid before taking a sip, with a contented smile Harry sat down, coffee was his main vice according to Hermione, thinking of her made him pause. He needed to find some way to contact them, his knowledge of America was vague, he knew the wizarding congress was based in New York but he had no idea where he was in relation to that, he knew he was too far away from Britain to use a patronus and he didn't have access to an owl, trying to apparate such a vast distance was out of the question. Pulling out his wand he summoned his faithful stag Prongs, saying who he was and that he needed help he directed his patronus to seek out an Auror, the stag just stood there which was unusual, they worked on the intent of the user so even vague instructions usually worked. He tried again with no difference, Prongs just stood there as if awaiting instructions, sighing in frustration Harry put down his wand, the Patronus fading away.

Sipping from his cup Harry had no idea how to proceed, he needed some magical means of communication, slapping his head Harry reached into his moleskin pouch, pulling out a small hand-held mirror he said Hermione's name, he waited but nothing happened, he tried again with the same result. Now he was getting worried, he remembered Sirius saying that they worked over any distance and even if Hermione was busy, she would have answered as they agreed they would use the mirrors as a way of communicating during emergencies only. Had he somehow travelled to an alternate dimension, it had been proven they existed by Unspeakables previously, it was the only reason he could think why the mirror wouldn't work, if it's twin wasn't 'here' to receive it.

Harry decided he had no choice but to explore this town further and try to figure out his location and how far he was from the nearest wizarding settlement, if they even existed in this dimension, that is if his thinking was correct. He had a feeling in the pit of his stomach, a feeling of dread because while he knew how he got into this mess, he had no idea how to get out of it.

Harry packed all his gear, drank the last of his coffee before cleaning the mug and returning it to its place, exiting the tent he tapped it with his wand, watching as it once again collapsed until it was a small flat square, even though he had been part of the wizarding world for over seven years and seen some amazing and terrifying sites, sometimes the smallest bits of magic amazed him. Going to the nearest corner he picked up the ward stone, the walls and falls seemed to ripple as the wards collapsed, collecting the rest of the stones he placed them back into his pouch.

Taking a quick look around to make sure he hadn't forgot anything he approached the door, slowly opening it he looked up and down the street, all clear. He slowly made his way to where the explosion happened yesterday, rounding the corner all seemed normal, the same rubbish strewn around, blowing lazily in the slight breeze, walking further down he came across another body, it seemed to have been stabbed in several places. Harry was reluctant but knew it had to be done so used his wand to float the body over. The face was distorted, old blood was visible coming from all the orifices, across several parts of the body was what appeared to be fungal growths, the clothes it was wearing appeared to be worn but gave no clue to the bodies identity, Harry was reluctant to examine the corpse any more even though it could reveal some clues. Shuddering he continued on, a small truck blocked the way, a ladder was leaning on the left hand side and was the only way to continue, looking around Harry decided if he wanted answers he would have to risk it and this could lead him to somebody who could tell him what the hell was going on.

Ascending the ladder, he slowly walked across the truck, there was bottles strewn about but nothing of interest, he hopped down on the other side, looking around it appeared to be a dead end, there were barricades in all directions. Climbing back onto the track Harry looked around, there was a building with a low roof with a ladder leading up to a higher level across the way, he wondered if that was the way he should go, deciding to risk it, looking between the truck and the building he used his wand to conjure a board, slowly making his way across he vanished the board and went up the ladder. Looking across the roof tops he noticed another board stretching between the buildings, in the distance a plum of black smoke rose into the air next to what appeared to be a church or a chapel of some sort.

Harry made his way across the board then hopped down to a lower level, there was another one of those human hybrid things sprawled across the floor with an arrow piercing its skull, climbing on top of some unit he continued on until he came to the edge of a roof, a ladder led most of the way down to the ground, seeing no other way to go he descended the ladder, hopping down the short distance to the ground, he started walking when he saw something glinting in mid-air, stopping he noticed a thin wire strung from one end of the wall to another with some sort of device attached to one side, wondering if it was one of the explosive devices from yesterday he slowly crouched and moved under it. He could either go left to what appeared to be another building or go through a gate in front of him, he decided to head left and see if he could discover any clues about his location. He slowly makes his way up some stairs, the place smells of decay and appears to be abandoned just like the rest, making his way into what appears to be the main room, a body is lying on the floor, blood oozing from the head which appears to have suffered a massive amount of trauma as it is caved in totally on one side, this looks like it was done recently, Harry pulled out his invisibility cloak just in case, his wand at the ready, looking around he doesn't see anything of value until he notices a scrap of paper lying on a table.

_Rachel,_

_Soldiers are going door to door forcing people onto buses. I hear yelling a couple of buildings down – time's running out. I tried calling, waiting, I don't know what to do, but I can't wait anymore. I've thrown most of our stuff into a couple of suitcases. I'll be waiting for in the quarantine zone. Come find me._

_I'll see you soon!_

_-Ezra_

Harry placed the note back down thinking, once again a quarantine zone is mentioned, some catastrophe must have happened, maybe something related to those human hybrid things he had seen, it would also explain why everything was deserted. He needed to find somebody alive who could explain things to him, the recently killed body worried him but he was a wizard and quite a highly skilled one at that, after all he had defeated a Dark Lord, battled Basilisks, Dementors and Dark Wizards, what could be worse than that. If those hybrid things are running around I could really do with some sort of weapon, it would seem strange to others if he was unarmed with such danger around and he didn't really want to reveal his true nature, he held out his hand concentrating before letting lose a quiet chuckle, the Sword of Gryffindor would have been handy but he wasn't surprised it didn't appear.

He conjured up a sword anyway, it didn't have any fancy jewels but would do the job, checking the rest of the building didn't reveal much, in the bedroom there were suitcases with mouldy clothing strewn about, they looked freshly disturbed as some were turned over and had dry spots were they had been protected from the rain, Harry supposed it could have been the hybrid. I need to think of a better name for them than that, hmm, Inferi, but I don't actually know if they are dead or just diseased in some way, ah whatever, he descended the stairs when a noise rang out, he hadn't heard it in real life before only on TV but he was absolutely sure that was a gunshot followed by two more, he heard yelling both a man's voice and what appeared to be a girls, Harry thought it's time to do what Hermione christened his 'Saving People thing' running through a building he came to an open doorway, there in front of him a man was suspended upside down shooting what looked like those hybrid things with a skill that surprised Harry, on top of what looked like a fridge a girl was hacking away at a rope with a knife, taking in the situation quickly, Harry swung his word though the rope holding the man, he fell to the floor with a grunt, Harry reached around to help him up only to be stopped when the man yelled out.

"Ellie, behind you," the man practically screamed.

Harry spun around, the girl was surrounded, two of those hybrid things were around her and another was running towards her although this one appeared almost normal apart from the blotches on his skin and the blood running from this eyes and ears.

The man raised his gun but before he could fire something happened that he couldn't believe, one moment the young man who cut him down was standing right in front of him, the next he was beside Ellie holding out a piece of wood and fire spewed everywhere like a flamethrower incinerating clickers and runners alike in moments. The guy dropped his arm and the flames dissipated, what was going on.

Harry checked around to make sure no more of the creatures were approaching, the girl looked at him with wide eyes, glancing at his face, then down to his hand and back to his face before shaking her head.

"How the fuck did you do that?" she exclaimed.

Harry looked at her in surprise, while he wasn't a prude, he wasn't used to hearing language like that, especially from a girl. He supposed in some ways the wizarding world was behind their muggle counterparts when it came to vulgar language.

"Err, I'm talking to you," she said.

Harry tried to hide a grin.

"Yeah sorry, it's been one of those days, I'm Harry"

"You talk funny, what the fuck sort of accent is that? I'm Ellie, he's Joel," she said with a grin, an impish smile on her face.

The man in question walked up to them, seemly all right after his time dangling upside down.

"Thanks, mind explaining how the hell you did that?" the man Ellie called Joel said.

"This is going to take a while," Harry replied, "is there anywhere around here which is secure?"

Joel looked around at the bodies scattered around.

"We are looking for somebody I know, Bill. I thought he was the only one who lived in this town"

"I was just passing through, heard the shots, thought somebody might be in danger," Harry replied.

"You got that right, fucking rope wouldn't cut," Ellie said while examining her knife

Harry looked at the rope a bit closer.

"Yeah look, see those threads running through it, steel wire, you need something a bit bigger than a knife to cut this stuff," Harry said while indicating the sword he was resting on.

Joel looked at the sword.

"Where the hell did you find a sword, looks like something you would see a knight swinging around."

"Yeah look, I can explain it all but how about we find this friend of yours if you don't mind me tagging along, I'm a bit confused about what's happening and I need some information," Harry said while looking at Joel.

"Yeah awesome," Ellie said with a smile.

Joel scowled at her before his face returned to a somewhat neutral look.

"Well you saved us so that earns you some points but if I think you're a threat," Joel trailed off

"Yeah I understand," Harry replied, "you want to lead the way, I have no idea where we are or where we need to go."

"Yeah about that," Joel started to say just before a figure rounded the corner.

This just gets stranger Harry thought; the new guy was wearing what appeared to be some sort of body armour and a gas mask but what made Harry wary was the machete which had clearly been used recently.

"Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my town!" the stranger said while raising his arm with the machete.

Joel stepped in front of Harry, recognition seemed to appear in the stranger's eyes.

"Okay this way and be quick, these buildings aren't secure."

He led them through what appeared to be a laundrette then through a truck into a storage room of some sort.

"Thanks for the heroics and all, uh Ellie" Ellie said while holding out her hand.

The stranger removed his gas mask before approaching her, suddenly he attached a handcuff to her wrist before attaching the other to a pipe on the wall.

Suddenly a pistol was pointed at them

"Turn around and get on your knees," he shouted while waving the gun back and forward.

Harry was considering trying to disarm him, but he didn't know how fast he would be with that gun, he appeared quite paranoid. Deciding to play along for now he did the same as Joel and knelt, the guy approached Joel while asking him about bites. Harry was listening intently to the guy, now he was asking about things sprouting, what the hell is going on he thought, suddenly Ellie pulled the pipe from the wall and started attacking the guy with it, Joel stood up and grabbed the pipe before Ellie caused him some serious problems. Harry was just staring in bewilderment.

Joel started asking the guy about a car, Harry tuned them out and gestured with his head to Ellie, she cautiously approached him.

"I thought you were going to break his arm there," he said with a grin.

"Well the fucker handcuffed me," she said while raising his arm.

Harry gave a wink and tapped the handcuff with his wand, it fell off landing on the floor with a clank.

Joel looked over while the other guy didn't appear to notice, too busy explaining something about a battery.

"That's so cool, how the fuck did you do that, can you teach me?" the questions tumbled out of Ellies mouth.

"So is Joel you dad then?" Harry asked.

Ellie snorted, "Really? You think he's my dad? Nah my parents died a long time ago. A friend asked him to escort me somewhere." As she said this a sad look appeared on her face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to drag up bad memories, I lost my parents when I was really young as well," Harry said.

Ellie looked at him as if she was about to ask a question before seeming to change her mind.

"How old are you anyway?" Harry asked.

"Fourteen but I'll be fifteen in August, what about you?" she replied.

"I've just turned eighteen," Harry said.

"Hey well at least you aren't ancient like Joel," Ellie sniggered.

The man in questioned turned around to look at them.

"Come on, we need to have a conversation."

Entering the next room, it appeared to be a bar, it must have been used for storage as various items were scattered around.

Harry wandered around before stopping at a table, a chess board with a half played game was on the table.

Ellie wandered up, stopping beside him, "You know how to play?"

"Yeah, I used to play all the time with my friend Ron, he was much better than me at it though, I can't remember anybody every beating him," Harry replied.

"Hey you okay?" Ellie asked with a concerned look.

"Yeah sorry, I'll be fine" Harry replied.

Joel wandered up, "I think it's about time we have that chat don't you"

Harry nodded while thinking how much to tell them, they were obviously muggles but considering the MACUSA didn't seem to exist it's not like he could get into trouble by disclosing the Magical World which only existed in his head for now.

Harry started pacing, before stopping and facing them.

"Okay here goes, I'm a wizard." He stated firmly while looking at each of them in the eye.

Ellie looked curious, she had seen him do several things know, both Joel and the other guy who Joel called Bill looked at him as if he had grown another head.

"I can prove it easily enough," Harry said.

"Oh this I cannot wait to see," Joel said while folding his arms.

Harry smirked, yeah just wait he thought. Looking around for something suitable he took a brick from a pile, placing it on the table. Ejecting his wand from his holster he pointed it at the brick while concentrating, one minute a brick was there, the next a tabby kitten was in its place.

Ellie immediately came across and picked it up

"It's real, it's really a kitten," she said while rubbing her hand across its stomach.

"It's not actually, even though it looks and will act like it," Harry said.

Both Bill and Joel stood there looking in disbelief.

"Good enough, or do you need more?" Harry said with a smirk.

"I think I've seen everything now," Joel said shaking his head.

"Not yet," Harry said and with a pop he was on the other side of the room before reappearing where he started.

"That is so fucking cool," Ellie said with a grin, still hugging the kitten.

"This has been the strangest week of my life," Joel said while sinking into a seat at a booth.

Bill was still just standing there, looking from Harry to the kitten and back again.

"I think you broke them," Ellie snickered.

Harry tried to keep it in but the looks on Joel and Bills faces just made it harder and before long he started laughing and just kept laughing.

Joel looked at him strangely, he had seen this before, the laughter had a hint of hysteria to it.

Suddenly Harry sunk down to the floor, where before there had been tears of laughter now there were just tears. Ellie went over to him and knelt. Putting a hand on his shoulder while still holding onto the kitten, Harry looked up, eyes red rimmed behind his glasses.

"I don't think I'll ever see my friends or world again," he said.

"What do you mean by world?" said Joel.

Harry rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Where I'm from, the year was 1999, I was part of a hidden group of magicals. We existed alongside those without magic in hidden settlements all over the world. Yesterday I was researching an artefact when I must have triggered it, the next thing I know I'm lying on the road in a deserted town half way across the world from where I was. I tried contacting fellow magicals earlier today, but it wouldn't work, I think I'm all alone here. I have no idea what's going on, apart from there's some weird human hybrids running around, and everything looks fucked"

"Okay assuming everything you just said is the truth and I'm inclined to believe you since you turned a brick into a kitten and teleported across the room, I'll give you a brief rundown. Firstly, what year do you think it is now?" Joel said.

"Well the sign I said had the year as thirteen so twenty-thirteen?" Harry answered.

"The year is actually twenty years after that, twenty-thirty-three," Joel said.

"What so I'm nearly forty-five years ahead of my time, I expected there to be flying cars and laser guns by now," Harry said with a grimace.

"Yeah well, what do you know of Cordyceps?" Joel asked.

"I have no idea what that is," Harry said, "should I?"

"Well, it's a fungal infection. It used to only effect small insects, but it mutated somehow and started infecting humans. There are several ways you can be infected. Bites, Spores and transfer of bodily fluids from somebody who is infected. Anybody who is infected turns within forty-eight hours into what we call runners, before then infection can make the person irrational and violent, there is often signs of fungal growth especially if bitten."

"Well shit," Harry says.

"The governments around the world basically collapsed practically overnight. The infection spread that fast. The military took over most places creating what we call quarantine zones, basically parts of cities walled off, apart from the QZs most of the rest of the places are wastelands, best to be avoided as they have roving groups of hunters who will murder you for the shoes on your feet, wild animals, buildings which will collapse on you and other fun things."

"So why are you out here instead of in one of these quarantine zones?" asked Harry while looking between Ellie and Joel.

Bill was still standing against the bar, a confused look on his face, Harry was warily keeping an eye on him.

Joel looked at Ellie, "I was tasked with taking Ellie somewhere safer by a friend of hers. There were three of us, Tess my friend got infected crossing through downtown Boston and died giving us time to escape from soldiers who were hunting us" he looked down while a sad look crossed Ellies face.

Looking up again Joel looked straight at Ellie, "It wasn't your fault," he stared at her before she nodded her head in acknowledgement.

"So, what's your plan now?" Harry asked.

"My brother Tommy, used to be part of this group, The Fireflies, I'm hoping he can put us in touch with them as the contacts we were supposed to meet were all dead and we couldn't get back into the city," Joel said.

"Would you mind if I tag along," Harry said, "I have nowhere to go but I could help you get where you need to go or even help you get back into Boston if you want to go there."

Joel looked over at Ellie, deep in thought.

"Safety in numbers," Ellie said," and he's a wizard, he totally kicks ass!" she said with a grin.

"Okay, you're welcome to tag along if that's what you want, it might be a long journey though, the last I knew Tommy was in Wyoming, hopefully if Bill can get a vehicle working we can get most of the way via road but they haven't been maintained for twenty years and vehicles ain't exactly reliable these days," Joel said while standing.

"You ready to move Bill," Joel asked.

Bill just stood there, a strange look on his face. Harry motioned over to Joel who wanderd over.

"Do you think he's going to be a problem?" Harry asked.

Joel looked over at Bill, "even for Bill he's been acting strange since your magic stuff."

"I can remove his memories," Harry said.

Joel looked at him surprised, "You can do that?"

"Yeah, it's a simple enough spell, a friend taught me," replied Harry.

"Okay, how you going to do it," said Joel.

Harry discreetly ejected his wand while pointing it at Bill. A flash of red light hit Bill and he slumped to the floor."

"What the hell was that," Joel said while pointing a gun in Harrys direction.

"It's just a stunning spell, easier while I remove his memories, then I can just revive him, it won't hurt him at all," Harry said warily watching the firearm Joel held.

"Next time give me a heads up before you start firing stuff around," Joel replaced his revolver into its holster.

"Hey Ellie, I'll need to change the kitten back," Harry said.

"Aww can I not keep it," Ellie asked.

"How you going to explain to Bill where it came from? If you want another one I can easily do it when we're away from here, "Harry said.

Ellie looked at him with a hopeful smile, "okay then." She placed the kitten on the floor.

With a quick flick from Harrys wand the kitten was once again a brick, he wandered over and knelt next to Bill, waving his wand he performed a memory spell, removing all knowledge of magic from his mind, next he moved back towards the chess board and discreetly shot a reviving spell at him.

Bill groaned while Joel walked over to him, "Hey Bill you okay, looked you fainted for a minute there, you ate lately?" reaching down he offered a hand, then pulled Bill to his feet.

Bill shook his head, "yeah, I must have forgot to eat or something." He still seemed a bit confused but gestured for everybody to follow him.

It took a few hours to work their way through Bills town, Harry discreetly using his wand when able to redirect the infected, while they were infected with the fungus they were still essentially human meaning that Harry could use localised notice-me-nots to make their travel across town easier, as long as they didn't make loads of noise they could escape notice.

The only time he panicked was in the school's gym, a massive infected which Joel called a bloater came bursting through some doors and they had barricaded the way out. It was looking bad so Harry once again stunned Bill before levitating him up onto some bleachers out of reach, he got Ellie up as well before telling Joel to distract the Bloater, Joel started firing rounds into it, keeping its attention on him while Harry approached from behind, pulling the Elder Wand out, Harry performed an overpowered incendio, it was so powerful the top half of the Bloaters body just disintegrated while its legs toppled over. Joel quickly looted the area before hoisting Harry onto the bleachers, a few infected ran out which Joel handily took care of, they made it into a house across the way before reviving Bill, it turned out his former partner lived there and had been infected before taking his own life.

With the three of them pushing and Ellie driving it didn't take long to get the engine running, approaching the edge of town they slowed to a halt to let Bill out. While Joel went to talk to Bill, Harry joined Ellie in the cab.

"Good job with the driving, that's something I've never done," Harry Said.

Ellie smiled, "Yeah it was fun, I didn't think I would get to drive again."

The saw Joel approaching the truck, so Ellie hopped in the back. Joel opened the door and sat in the driver's seat, reaching down he adjusted it a bit before looking over his shoulder, "Ellie you should get some sleep while you have the chance."

"Hang on," Harry said, "you hungry?"

Ellie sat forward, "I'll be your best friend if you have food!"

Harry smirked before pulling his pouch out from under his shirt. Ellie looked disappointed when she saw how small it was until Harry put his hand to the opening and pulled out a wrapped package which couldn't have possibly fit inside it.

"I love magic!" she exclaimed while Harry handed her the packaged.

"You hungry Joel," Harry asked with a quirk of his eyebrow, a quick nod from Joel had Harry retrieving another wrapped package which he handed to him, before getting another for himself.

Before long there was silence about from the hum of the truck and the sound of munching.

Ellie sighed with a happy smile on her face, "Those were so good, I've never had a sandwich which tasted so good before!"

Harry looked over at her, he liked the sandwiches he packed but he didn't think they were anything special.

"You thirsty Ellie?"

She eagerly nodded, let's see Harry said while thinking, I have some pumpkin juice, I have a feeling you won't like that, err what else, oh right, I have a couple of cans of coke, hot chocolate, water, tea or coffee.

At that Joel whipped his head around?

"No shitting, you have coffee?" he asked eagerly.

"Yeah, it's only instant but it's quite good, I tell you what it's getting late. How about we find somewhere to park up and I'll put up the tent?" Harry said.

"Seriously you have a tent on you? They aren't very secure," Joel remarked.

Harry smirked, "I think you'll find mine is."

"We'll see," Joel replied.

Harry looked in the back, surprised Ellie hadn't asked about the tend to see her engrossed in some comic. About ten minutes later they came to a place suitable to stop. Harry told them to wait by the truck while he secured the area. Pacing the area out, he placed the ward stones out before energizing them, a dome spread overhead before fading from view, but Harry knew it was still there, he could feel the slight tingle of the wards. Next, he flipped the tent onto the ground tapping it with his wand while watching Ellie and Joel's faces, they seemed to be disappointed when what appeared to be a one mans tent popped into view. Trying to keep his face straight he gestured for them to approach the tent.

"It's a bit on the small side and are you sure we're safe here?" Joel said.

"Absolutely, we're one hundred percent safe, I guarantee it. Why don't you go in the tent first Ellie?" Harry gestured.

Ellie ducked down before entering the tent, shortly after a squeal was heard before a peal of laughter.

Joel looked surprised but followed Ellie into the tent, when Harry entered, he was just standing there taking everything in.

"You know, I don't think I will ever get used to this magic of yours, I'm looking at it and I still don't believe it," Joel said before moving over to the couch, he poked it with his fingers a few times before sitting down.

Ellie meanwhile was looking around the kitchen, "Harry, everything is so clean!"

"Yeah unlike you, you smell and look like crap," Harry smirked.

"Hey, fuck you, I don't smell," Ellie said while sniffing her armpit, "Okay maybe I smell a little"

"Why don't you have a bath," Harry suggested.

Ellie just looked at him as if he had lost his mind, Harry gestured to her to follow him.

Opening a door Ellie hadn't noticed, they entered a bathroom, there was a claw footed tub with several taps on one side, Harry reached over and put in the plug before turning one of the taps, hot steaming water started flooding into the tub. Pulling another lever, flowery smells assaulted their noses while bubbles started appearing in the bath, by this time Ellie was practically bouncing on her toes.

"If you give me your dirty clothes I can clean them for you quickly," Harry said.

Ellie started whipping her shirt off while Harry stammered turning red, "I meant after I left."

Ellie stopped, realising what she was doing her face growing red as well, "err sorry I got carried away."

She looked at Harry who she noticed was just staring at her arm.

Shit, shit she thought, she hadn't been thinking, now her bite was on show and Harry had seen it, Joel is going to be furious she though.

"When did that happen?" Harry asked.

Well he isn't freaking out Ellie thought.

"Just over three weeks ago," she replied.

"And an infected bit you?" Harry said, more of a statement than a question.

Ellie nodded with trepidation.

Harry thought for a moment, seeing the hint of fear on Ellies face and realising she was waiting for him to lose it.

"Hey it's okay," he said, "obviously if you were going to turn it would have happened long ago, so I take it this is why you are going to see these people? They have a lab or something?"

"Yeah, it's a group called the Fireflies, they fight against the military, they have their own little quarantine zone with a lab," Ellie replied.

"You want me to do something about that arm?" Harry asked.

"What do you mean," Ellie asked curiously.

"Well I can't actually fix it, I could of if it was when it happened, I'm not brilliant at healing but stuff like that is easy enough, I don't know if I could stop the infection though. But I can conceal it using magic," Harry said.

Ellie looked at Harry then back at her arm with a hopeful look, Harry looked over with a smile. Ejecting his wand, he waved it over her arm in a figure eight while reciting words that Ellie didn't understand, she watched in wonder as her arm seem to ripple before her arm looked totally normal, like it did before all this happened. She tentatively poked it with a finger.

"I can still feel it," Ellie said.

"Yeah it's just an illusion but nobody else will be able to tell and it will stay like that until I dispel it." Harry said.

Ellie rushed over to Harry and pulled him into a hug before kissing him softly on the cheek before whispering in his ear, "Thank you so much, you have no idea what this means."

Harry realised how this might look if Joel came in and slowly pulled away from Ellie, to his surprise he realised he felt a bit disappointed when he moved away.

"Now enjoy your bath, toss your clothes out the door, wait until I leave this time though," Harry said with a smirk as Ellie blushed once again.

As Harry left the bathroom he felt eyes on him and looked up to see Joel giving him a strange look.

"You took your time in there," Joel practically growled.

"Er yeah, I was showing the bath to Ellie and I also saw her bite mark," Harry replied.

At this Joel looked at him sharply

"It's okay, Ellie explained it. I hid the bite for her," Harry explained.

"What do you mean you hid it?" Joel asked.

"It's basically a magical disguise, unless I remove it then her arm will just appear normal to people," Harry shrugged before moving into the kitchen. "You want some coffee?"

"Yeah, please," Joel said.

Harry made them each a cup of coffee, handing one to Joel who took a sip and sat there with a contented look on his face. Harry went to the bathroom door and reached down gathering up the clothes Ellie had thrown out, a few minutes of scourgifying and everything was clean, Harry though he may as well go all out and started using _reparo's_ and a couple of _geminio's _ and there now sat three sets of clean clothes. Harry looked up seeing Joel watching with interest.

"Can you do that with anything? Clean them and duplicate them?" Joel asked.

"Yeah, nothing with complex moving parts and there's a limit to the size, the bigger and more complex the object the more power it needs. Some things I can conjure from nothing but that definitely takes more out of me and I can only do simple things so far." Harry said while sipping at his own coffee.

"You know in this world, the way it is now, you could live like a king with the power you have," Joel watched Harry as he said this, he paused a minute before he continued, "you wouldn't, though would you?"

"Until I was eleven years old, I lived in a cupboard under the stairs, continuously told I was a freak and that my parents were drunks. I then found out that I was a wizard and that my parents were war heroes. I was treat like a slave, belittled, punished if I did better than their lazy soon at school, fed scraps and had hand me down clothes while my cousin got everything he wanted. My first friends I made were at school when I was eleven, then I found out I was destined to battle the evillest dark wizard ever, I eventually did with the help of those friends, I thought I had earned some piece and then this happened. No, all I want to do is help you and Ellie then find a nice quiet place where I can disappear forever."

As Harry and Joel had been talking Ellie had opened the bathroom door a bit to call out for her clothes but standing there listening to Harry, so much of what he said resonated with her that she sank to the floor and tears started flowing down her face, thinking of grown up unwanted, moving from school to school, of that fateful day when Riley returned and they went to the mall, being bitten and how terrified she felt, the hopelessness they both felt, Riley dying and Ellie left alone again. Wiping at her eyes she went to the sink and ran the water, splashing her face. Returning to the door she called out for Harry, surprised when he returned with a whole bundle of cloths which all looked brand new.

"How?" she asked.

"Magic," was all he replied with a smirk.


	2. Chapter 2

_I'm not sure how far to take this, logically with Harry being a wizard and no laws holding him back he wouldn't have a problem getting Joel and Ellie safely anywhere so I'm thinking I will start concentrating on Ellie and Joel learning more about magic and Harrys backstory and the building of their relationships on the journey and less on the actual combat, although the combat will still play a part, it is set in the Last Of Us universe after all._

_As previously no beta and no doubt lots of mistakes. I will try and update at least weekly. _

Joel woke up early the next morning thinking that was the best sleep he could remember for a long time. Stretching he sat up before making his way to the kitchen. There was a kettle of some sort but for the life of him he couldn't figure out how to use it, the stove top had no normal knobs or switches that he was used to.

"Morning Joel," said Harry stifling a yawn.

Joel looked around, "hey, you want to do me a favour and show me how this darn kettle works" while gesturing to the item in question.

"Ha, yeah, sorry, with it being a magical tent, most of the items are magical," with a swish and a quick incantation the kettle started whistling, steam pouring out of the spout. Reaching into the cupboard Harry pulled out some mugs, "coffee?" he asked to which Joel nodded.

Harry quickly made two cups of coffee and he and Joel sat down at the kitchen table. Joel seemed to be contemplating something before looking at Harry, "I need to discuss something important with you"

Harry sat up straighter, sipping his coffee he replied, "yeah, sure. What's up?"

"This journey we are on, I'm not going to bullshit you, the chances of us making it are slim at best, even with what I've seen you do. This world now is nothing like you've likely experienced. I know you said you were involved in some conflict so I reckon you can handle yourself. The infected are bad enough but at least with them you know where you stand. It's people who are the dangerous ones. Ellie doesn't realise what the world is like, she's been sheltered in a quarantine zone since birth and while they aren't all sunshine and roses, compared to the outside they are a walk in the park. She sees this as a big adventure but I made a promise to somebody that I cared about that I would get her to the Fireflies and that is my intention but if something happens to me, I need you to promise that you will take care of her, I need your word on this," Joel said with an intent stare.

Harry sat for a minute thinking, he had no idea how to get back to his own world and time, or even if it is even possible. Joel seemed like a capable guy and if he was worried about completing the journey then this world must be even worse than he thought. Ellie seemed like a sweet girl, she still had that childish wonder about her but you could also see the sadness, obviously she had been through a lot, he couldn't figure out Joel though, while obviously he was keeping her as safe as he could, he was also distant when talking to her and in his interactions.

"Well obviously if something happened, I wouldn't just abandon her, but I don't know if I'm the best person to look after her, I barely know this world and the only people I know in it are you two and Bill." Harry replied.

Joel rubbed his eyes before looking at Harry again, "There are people in this world that wouldn't treat Ellie kindly if they caught her. Do you know what I'm saying"?

"Oh, shit. I never even thought about that, is it really like that?" Harry said.

"Even before the world went to shit there was always so-called men who treat women badly, the world being the way it is, most of the people left aren't the best examples of humanity," Joel replied.

Harry looked at him curiously, "well you and Ellie seem okay, Bill was a bit weird, but he didn't seem like a bad guy."

"Yeah Bill is okay if a bit paranoid, Ellie is just a kid and was born into this crazy world. I've survived for twenty years of this," at this Joel looked down, "look Harry, I'm not a good guy, I've had to do some horrible things to survive in this world, things that I wish I could take back. A friend said a while back that we weren't good people and we hadn't been for a long time, she was right, I'm hoping getting Ellie to the Fireflies will start repaying some of the debt I owe."

"Okay Joel," Harry said while looking Joel in the eye, "you have my word. I will protect her with my life."

Joel didn't say anything, just nodded and sipped his coffee.

Ellie bounced into the kitchen, "Hey guys! I feel great, I cannot believe we have a tent with a bath in it! I haven't felt so clean in years!"

"Well you definitely smell better," Harry laughed while avoiding the punch she aimed for his arm. "You guys hungry? I don't have much in the way of breakfast foods, I wasn't planning on an extended trip, but I could whip up some omelettes if you like"

"I haven't had eggs in a long time, you don't see many chickens around these days," said Joel while Ellie looked intrigued.

"I don't think I've had proper eggs before. The stuff they had at the school was this stuff like rubber, seriously you could bounce it off the wall."

Harry stood up and started pulling items out of his moleskin pouch, with a swish of his wand a frying pan flew out of a cupboard and settled on the stove, cracking some eggs into a bowel he started preparing their breakfast.

Ellie sat there with a smile, Magic is awesome she thought, even Joel seemed less grumpy this morning as he sat there sipping something out of a cup.

"You thirsty Ellie," Harry asked.

She nodded in reply, Harry pointed his wand at a cupboard, with a twirl a glass flew out of the cupboard settling down before Ellie while a jug floated out of the cooler and filled the glass up with cold milk.

Ellie took a sip then a big smile appeared on her face, "damn this taste so much better than the stuff they gave us."

"It was probably powdered," said Joel

"Powdered?" Ellie quirked an eye

"Yeah stuff like eggs and milk can be made into power so it lasts a lot longer, then you just add water to bring them back to how they should be, they never taste the same though," Harry said.

"Huh, we must have had that stuff then," Ellie said before talking a big gulp of milk, followed by a belch.

Harry placed some plates on the table before placing an omelette in front of Ellie, then Joel.

Both inhaled deeply, the aroma of the omelette mouth-watering. Ellie took a bit before with a grin she started shovelling more into her mouth, Joel while a bit more sedate was eating his rapidly as well.

"You know, I think I'd keep you around just for your cooking skills," said Joel.

Harry sat down with his own omelette, "Yeah I've been cooking for years, I like cooking for people who appreciate it, unlike those useless relatives of mine."

"So, Ellie," Joel started, "just how much of the conversation did you eavesdrop on earlier?"

Ellie looked up with a guilty look on her face, "err. Not much, just when you were talking about what Tess said."

"It's nothing to worry about, it just makes sense to have plans in place if anything happens," Joel said.

"Oh, okay. So, what are we doing today?" she asked.

"Back on the road, hopefully it's clear and in good enough condition, we also need to find some vehicles to siphon, we've got just under a tank of gas left, "Joel said while draining the last of his coffee.

Harry swished his wand, cleaning up the dishes before saying, "well, if you want to use the bathroom, best to do it now then I'll pack up the tent."

"Me first!" and Ellie was already moving running towards the bathroom with a giggle before Harry or Joel could even move.

"I wish I had half her energy," Joel said with a groan as he stood up. "Is it okay to leave the tent? I didn't really have a chance to look over the engine yesterday."

"Yeah, it's within the boundaries of the wards, don't go outside them though, you will become confused and forget why you were there and wander off, probably dangerous if infected are around."

Joel raised an eyebrow, "seriously?"

Harry nodded.

Joel picked up his backpack, checked his weapons and exited the tent.

A few minutes later Ellie came bounding out of the bathroom.

"That was quick, I thought I would have to drag you out" Harry said with a smile, noticing how much better she looked now she was clean and in decent clothes.

"Can we use the tent again tonight, please?" she said with an impish smile.

"How could I say no to that face," Harry said with a laugh causing Ellie to blush.

Harry quickly washed up before exiting the tent, Joel had his head under the hood pulling at hoses and examining the engine while Ellie stood beside him chattering away. With a tap the tent shrank down to a small package which Harry picked up and stored in his pouch before wandering over to the truck.

"We all good?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's in not bad condition considering it's nearly my age," Joel said.

"So, it's ancient," Ellie laughed with a devilish smile.

Joel just give her a look and rolled his eyes, Harry had to hide a grin. He didn't know why Joel was reluctant to bond with Ellie, but he could see she was breaking down his walls, even if Joel didn't realise it himself.

They had been travelling for several hours now, some parts of the highway were littered with abandoned vehicles which they had to slowly weave through, on a couple of occasions Harry had to use his magic to float cars out of their path.

Harry had tried to engage Joel in conversation several times, he noticed that if he was talking about the here and now Joel would reply although for the most part but if he tried to bring up the past Joel would completely shut down it down.

Ellie on the other hand was eager to quiz Harry about being a wizard so he started by telling her about finding out he was a wizard even if he mainly omitted the Dursleys and their behaviour. He explained the wonders of Diagon Alley, the trip on the Hogwarts Express where he made his first friend and met the other who would make up the so called Golden Trio, Ellie sat in awe as he told her about his first glimpse of Hogwarts sailing across the Black Lake, her gasp of surprise as he told of the ghosts surprising all the waiting first years.

"So, ghosts are real?" Ellie asked nervously.

"Well they were in my world," Harry replied "and the only ghosts I saw were former magicals, I'm not even sure if non magicals could be ghosts. I've seen none since I've been in this world."

"Oh, okay," she replied. Harry looked on curiously before realising she must be thinking of her parents or friends she had lost and the chance to see them again. Harry had an idea, but he didn't want to bring it up and raise her hopes while it may not lead to anything, he still had the Resurrection Stone, but he had no idea if it would work for a non-magical or if it could even call back the departed from this world. He would have to think of some way to test it but with only Ellie and Joel as test subjects that could be difficult.

"So, tell me more about yourself Ellie, you don't have to get personal but anything you feel okay with sharing I would like to hear," Harry smiled at her.

So, she told him about moving around as a kid, being shuffled from one orphanage to another before arriving in the Boston QZ when she was thirteen and making friends with Riley, how they became best friends quickly, how they fought and then Riley disappeared before returning months later and their ill-fated trip to the old mall. Harry listened in silence, a compassionate look on his face as he listened to Ellie talk, she looked so vulnerable, but Harry could also see a strength in her that reminded him of Ginny in some ways. Loosing a close friend like that and expecting to die yourself before finding out you could be the saviour of humans, either one of those things could destroy a less strong-willed person. While Harry privately thought that it had gone too far for humans to recover but maybe that was a good thing, maybe the world or at least this version of it would find balance between man and nature.

With a flourish Harry conjured a tissue which he handed to Ellie, she accepted with a smile before rubbing at her eyes.

"Hey Joel, you fancy pulling over for some food or do you want to keep going?" Harry asked.

Joel slowed the vehicle while looking around assessing the area for danger and suitability, he pulled the vehicle in between a few abandoned vehicles before coming to a stop.

"Wait here," Joel grunted before pulling his shotgun from his pack and exiting the vehicle before walking in a circular route around the truck, "okay, it's clear," he shouted.

Ellie and Harry exited the truck, both stretching and groaning with relief after having been confined for several hours in cramped conditions.

Joel went to sit down before Harry stopped him, with a quick wave a blanket fluttered to the group before he sent a cushioning charm before inviting Joel and Ellie to sit down, he smirked at the surprise on their face, both lifting the blanket and finding it was just as thin as they though.

"You're gonna make us soft," Joel grunted but he did have a relieved look on his face. Harry knew after twenty odd years those truck seats weren't the most comfortable.

Harry pulled out some more packs of sandwiches before making coffee for himself and Joel while Ellie was happy with a soft drink. They would have to think of sourcing some more food stuffs soon, at this rate Harry thought he had around three days' worth. While they could always go hunting that involved risks itself, from wild animals, the infected and any bandits in the area.

"So," Harry started, "tell me more about these Fireflies. Have they been around since the start of the infection? What exactly are they?"

Joel took a sip of his coffee while gathering his thoughts before replying.

"They were formed after martial law was declared and the military at the time took over the running of the quarantine zones. Initially they called for the return of the US government and were mainly involved in skirmishes with the military although when some Fireflies were publicly executed that drove more people to their cause and they had more success in driving the military from some zones. However, they didn't think of what would happen to the zones after and a lot ended up worse than under the control of the military. In recent years they have often been called terrorists and not without cause. Me and Tess had a tentative agreement with them, they don't bother us, we don't bother them, the leader Marlene and Tess had some history, nothing Tess ever told me about, but they seemed to respect each other. I guess Ellie would know more about Marlene than me."

Harry looked over at Ellie who shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know that much really, I only met Marlene when I was thirteen, seemly her and my mom were friends, she couldn't look after me but always made sure I was safe in some school somewhere. I always wondered how I managed to avoid getting kicked out so much."

"When do you think we will hit Pittsburgh?" Harry asked looking at Joel.

"Depending on the condition of the road and if we can find some more fuel, we should hit the outskirts early afternoon, hopefully the highway is in passable condition and hasn't been bombed to hell like some cities." Joel looked sceptical as he said this.

Ellie was busy engrossed in reading a copy of the Daily Prophet Harry had forgotten to throw out and was in his Moleskin pouch, every so often she would stop and ask him a question, suddenly she gasped, "Dragons, dragons are real! You're shitting me!"

"Yeah Dragons were real, I actually flew against one when I was around your age in a competition, it nearly skewered me after it tried to roast me like a chestnut, meanest dragon I ever saw," Harry said while grinning at the look on Ellies face, "there were lots of different breeds, I think I saw about five or six, there was the Hungarian Horntail I flew against but that wasn't the first dragon I saw, my friend Hagrid hatched a dragon egg, the thing is he lived in a wooden house, so me and my friend got Rons brother to take it to a dragon reserve in Romania, there was also a Welsh Green, a Swedish Short Snout and a Chinese fireball and, " here Harry paused, " there was a Ukrainian Ironbelly which me and my friends rode out a bank after robbing the goblins!"

Ellie looked at him silently for a minute before replying, "No way, now I know you're fucking with me."

"Nope, keep reading the paper, it was on the front page for a while when it happened but this is from just after the war but there's a bit about me and my friends and what we got up to, the Goblins weren't fond of us after that but it was necessary to get rid of the dark wizard and one of them double crossed us and they were eager to appease the defeaters of the greatest dark wizard in history."

Joel kept glancing in the rear-view mirror, not saying much apart from raising his eyes in disbelief every so often. He saw the looks Ellie kept sneaking at Harry when she thought he wasn't looking, he remembered Sarah doing the same thing when she met the leader of a band she was into after a concert. Sighing, he tried to push down the memories from his past, even all this time later it hurt to remember when he was a decent man, a father with a future. Since Ellie arrived on the scene though these memories seemed to surface more often and his techniques to suppress them seemed to be failing him. When the kid had mentioned his ability to remove memories back at Bill's he was seriously tempted to ask him to remove his of that night when he lost his baby girl but then he felt guilty as if he was abandoning her even though she had been gone for so long.

He refocused his attention on the road ahead, so far they had been relatively lucky but he saw that luck was about to run out, shifting down a gear, he applied pressure to the brakes before rolling to a stop.

"What's up," called Harry from the back while Ellie peered between the front seats.

"Roads blocked, give me a second while I check it out," Joel called back.

"I hope we don't have to walk again, it fucking sucks," Ellie scowled.

Harry sniggered, "How come you swear so much?"

"I dunno, maybe because all the schools I grew up in the older kids swore, then again so did the adults come to that, I don't realise I'm doing it half the time," she grinned at him, "why? Am I offending your sensibilities," Ellie put on her best posh voice, "Oh Harry my good man, how are you this wonderful afternoon? Should we partake of some scones and tea," this is as far as she got before she couldn't contain her own laughter.

"I seriously hope that wasn't an impression of how you think I sound," Harry laughed.

"Well, maybe a little. Looks like it's okay to go out," Ellie said while pointing at Joe who had a raised hand beckoning them over.

"Well let's see what mischief we can get into," Harry said before with a pop he disappeared from the back seat re-appearing just outside Ellies window. She let out a scream before opening the door and trying to chase Harry as he sniggered and took off.

Joel slowly re-holstered the revolver he had aimed in their direction at Ellies scream, _damn kids gonna be the death of me _he thought.

Harry approached his right before coming to a stop, Ellie not far behind him slightly out of breath, as soon as she was within reaching distance, she punched Harry in the shoulder.

Harry winced slightly, for a small girl she had some strength in those skinny arms, "Hey what was that for?"

"You scared me half to death you asshole," she said it with a smile though so Harry knew he wasn't really in her bad books.

Before then for at least a hundred metres were vehicles of all sizes, all in terrible condition and not driveable, most weren't more than rusting shells.

"Well I could get you and Ellie past easy enough, the problem is the car. I know ways to shrink items but the problem is it doesn't always play nice with non-magical things, so we could get the truck to the other side but it might never work again." Harry said while assessing if he could move and clear a path through the abandoned vehicles.

Joel looked from the vehicles to the turn off which was suspiciously clear. He didn't want to risk their vehicle, they were few and far between, only the military had the ability to repair and manufacture parts. But he remembered in the past, the ambushes they had used to trap unsuspecting travellers, this practically shouted out trap.

"I think this was deliberate," Joel said while weighing up his options, "I think the other direction is a trap, probably hunters waiting for whoever stumbles through. But I think we are going to have to risk it, we cannot loose the truck, the chance of us getting another is zero." Glancing at Ellie Joel continued, "do you think you can make yourself and Ellie invisible whilst we drove through this part?"

Harry nodded, "yeah easy enough. Sorry but I don't know how to make non-living things invisible whilst moving, I missed the last year of school due to the war and I was still catching up on my education." He turned to Ellie, "you ready?"

"Yeah, it won't hurt will it?" She asked with a worried expression.

"Nah, it will just feel a bit weird, hold still," Harry said before tapping her on the top of the head.

"Ugh, that feels horrible," Ellie said while staring at her hand which slowly disappeared before her eyes.

Joel looked on in wonder, still amazed at what Harry was capable of.

"Hold still Joel while I try something," Harry muttered what sounded like Latin to Joel before waving his wand and a yellow light seemed to sink into him, "whilst we were breaking into the bank that I mentioned earlier, we had to reach a cursed item but anything else we touched multiped and burned us. My friend tried an _impervious _charm which didn't really work but I researched variants when I started with the Unspeakables. This should provide some protection against blunt force and fire, but I never had a chance to test it. Better than nothing, though right?"

Joel nodded in appreciation whilst Harry topped himself on the head, slowly disappearing from view. They returned to the truck. Joel got into the drivers sleep whilst harry wandered around the vehicle, performing the same charm on the windows and panels. Getting in the back he joined Ellie.

"I've tried to make the truck a bit more robust in case of trouble," Harry said. Looking at Ellie he reached out and gently put his hand on her shoulder, she looked up, the anxiety falling from her face at his gesture. "Hey it will be okay, no matter what happens I won't let anybody hurt you," Harry promised.

Ellie gave him a beaming smile before shyly saying thank you.

"Okay buckle up kids, this is it, keep an eye out for anything," Joel said while backing the truck up before moving forward once again slowly down the slip road, multi storied building lined the road, all looking deserted and abandoned, nature had started reclaiming sections of the city, tree roots spilling out into the sidewalks while plants wound there way around street signs. Here and there an abandoned vehicle lay on the road, but they slowly made their way around them.

"Joel, I have an idea, pull over a minute." Harry said.

Joel never replied but slowly brought the vehicle to a halt before twisting in his seat to face where Harry and Ellie, It was a strange thing talking to an empty back seat, "well out with it then."

"I'm thinking the safest way forward would be for you and Ellie to stay here with the truck, I'll activate the ward stones which will keep you totally safe and I'll scout ahead to see if we're walking into anything." Harry said.

Ellie made a sound of protest before Joel spoke up, "I dunno if that's a good idea kid, you're only new to this world and don't know how fucked up people can be."

Harry sigh before continuing with a determined voice, "I fought the evillest person you could ever imagine from the age of eleven, I killed my teacher who was possessed by him the first year I attended magical school. Second year I fought a Basilisk, a mystical snake that could kill you by just looking in it's eyes, oh it was also over a thousand years old, over sixty feet long and had venom so poisonous one cupful could kill a whole city. Every year I fought for my life and for my friends lives. I might look young, but I've been fighting for longer than I can remember."

Joel raised his hands, "sorry Harry. I wasn't trying to say you ain't capable but these people can be devious, there could be trip wires, bombs all sorts of things that you could wander into it."

During Harrys speech Ellie had scooted over and grabbed his hand, now that he had stopped talking he was aware of how soft and warm her hand was and how well it fitted with his, pushing that thought away he gave her hand a gentle squeeze to let her know he was okay before continuing.

Ejecting his wand he cancelled his disillusionment before doing the same with Ellie, Joel glanced at their joined hands but said nothing.

"Okay, how about I make you invisible and you can scout ahead. It's not a hundred percent perfect, the faster you move the more likely someone will notice something amiss but if you move carefully for all intents and purposes you will be invisible, I can also silence your boots," Harry said, "I'll stay here and protect Ellie."

"Hey, I'm not a kid," Ellie protested, "I can take care of myself."

"I didn't mean it like that Ellie, I just meant using magical protection to hide us while Joel is gone, plus I have to look after you now, who else is going to tell me puns in this world."

This seemed to appease Ellie as a smile appeared on her face.

"Okay we gonna do this?" Joel said while opening the truck door, Harry stepped up, first casting _silencio_ on his boots before applying the disillusionment charm. "I'll try and be back within the hour," here he paused, "if I don't return. Remember your promise."

"With my life," Harry replied before walking back to the truck, he pulled out the ward stones before surrounding the truck, powering them up he returned to the back seat.

They both sat there for a while, silence between them while awaiting Joel's return.

"Well this is awkward, time to break the tension," Ellie said before pulling out a joke book from her back pocket.

"Go on then, do your worse," Harry replied.

"It's doesn't matter how much you push the envelope. It'll still be stationary." Ellie smirked.

"Oh, that is terrible," Harry said whilst shaking his head.

"I walked into my sister's room and tripped on a bra. It was a booby-trap." She sniggered whilst Harry couldn't help a snort of laughter.

"I tried to catch some fog earlier, I mist." She continued. Harry laughing along at how corny they were. They continued like this for a while before Harry pulled out some drinks for them both.

Harry was just about to suggest that they play some cards when an explosion sounded in the distance before a plume of smoke lazily wound its way into the sky.

"Shit, do you think that's Joel," Ellie said while gazing at the smoke," he might be in trouble. We need to go and help."

"Shit Ellie, no. We said we would stay here until Joel returned. He could be fighting them for all we know. From everything I've heard and seen he's a capable bloke and remember he's practically invisible and silent."

Ellie said in though before nodding, "okay but if he's not back in another hour we need to go and look for him, he might have hit one of those traps he was telling you about."

At her words Harry visibly wilted, she was right of course, he wasn't invincible and could be in trouble. But he had promised him he would keep Ellie safe. The minutes seemed to drag on and the sky was starting to darken as it became late afternoon. Sighing Harry turned to Ellie who was playing with a knife, nervously twisting it in her hands, "I think we need to go look for him."

"Yeah, we do. "Ellie said with determination.

"I'm going to disillusion you again and put the same charms on you I did with Joel, but don't get reckless, I know you can handle yourself but please for me, stick with me. Being disillusioned it's easy to lose track of each other." He reached out fumbling before grabbing her arm, he slid his hand down until their hands were joined.

"You ready," Harry asked.

"Yep, Let's do it," Ellie replied.

Silently they headed forward, Harry taking note of where he had left the truck, be no good finding Joel if they lost their ride. Squeezing Ellie's hand to reassure her they walked around the corner and nearly into a bunch of what must be Hunters.

Harry pulled Ellie to the side, pulling her against himself as the group of Hunters slowly walked past. Once they were far enough away Harry let out a breath, he hadn't realised he head been holding becoming aware of the girl he held in his arms, she smelled faintly of lavender, probably from the bath the previous night."

"Phew that was close," Ellie breathed out her breath tickling Harry's neck.

Slowly he released her until once again he was holding just her hand again, "Yeah, let's keep going."

Unbeknownst to Harry, Ellie had a smile on her face, thinking of how safe she had felt in Harry's arms. It wasn't that he was a wizard although that was awesome, there was just something about him that intrigued her, there was a lot of parallels to them, although she never had to fight an evil wizard but she could relate to being heralded as a saviour, even if only a few people were aware of her importance at this time.

Squeezing his hand, for the first time since she was bitten, Ellie had hope, hope that everything would be okay.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry crept along stealthily keeping a firm grip on Ellies hand. Even though they were disillusioned he didn't want to rely on that keeping them safe, especially around trigger-happy hunters. Getting his bearings after losing sight of the smoke in the distance he whispered to Ellie

"It should be just around the other side of this block. Stick to the left side there's more cover there. I don't see any hunters around, but something feels off."

Ellie squeezed his hand in acknowledgement.

Harry and Ellie slowly crept up to behind a rusted out wreck of a car, peering over the hood Harry could spot what looked like a small square which used to contain shops and cafes, now the signs were missing or weathered beyond reading, the frontages were all open to the weather and nature had started to reclaim the spaces, green vines creeping up the front and into the buildings in some places.

"You see anything," Harry whispered.

"Nah, no sign of Joel or anyone else, where the fuck is he," Ellie huffed in frustration.

"Don't worry, we'll track him down."

"I'm not worried," Ellie frowned in reply.

"Uh-hu, if you say so," Harry smirked back.

Pulling his wand he cast a revealing spell, the immediate area was clear, next he lay his wand on his upturned hand, "Point me Joel."

The wand rotated for a while before settling on a location to the left of where they were.

"That's so cool, can it show how far he is?"

"Nope, just the direction but it will says us wandering around in circles. Okay take my hand Ellie, we need to move again," Harry reached out his arm towards where he knew Ellie was kneeling before he felt her grip his hand.

Slowly getting to his feet he started moving stealthily, Ellie following along so closely he could hear her breathing. Performing another point me spell for reference they set off again, rounding a corner they came across what looked like the aftermath of an explosion, bits of masonry was scattered all around the sidewalk and chunks of wood and other debris lay burning. Across the way was what looked to be some sort of office building, in front of it a group of six men appeared to be attempting to force their way in.

Harry pulled Ellie into a doorway, performing the point me again led straight towards the men.

"He's in that building," Harry said.

"What, but how could they see him?" Ellie

"They couldn't have but they might have seen him through the smoke or saw the door close or some noise even. Let me deal with these guys."

"Wait, what you gonna do?"

"Watch this, you'll like it," Harry said with a hint of humour in his voice.

Targeting a guy on the left side he first cast a _confundo_ followed by a compulsion charm. The guy suddenly started making monkey noises and started imitating one.

Ellie snorted, "That's the funniest thing I have seen."

The guys friend started calling out to him asking what the hell he was doing, moving away from the door, exactly what Harry wanted. Taking careful aim, he cast the strongest muggle repelling charm he could, ideally the charm would be cast on a whole building or area but this would be enough to make the bandits think of something else they needed to do.

The group got a confused look on their faces before seemly shaking it off and ambling in the opposite direction to where Harry and Ellie were hidden.

"That's was fucking awesome, I'm so jealous of all the cool shit you can do," Ellie whispered.

"Well I think you're pretty special just how you are," Harry replied.

Ellie was glad that Harry couldn't see her at the minute, she could feel her face heat up with embarrassment.

"He's just being nice, it doesn't mean anything," she kept repeating in her head while herself and Harry moved across the road.

Halfway across Ellie started feeling uncomfortable.

"Err Harry, I think we should go somewhere else," Ellie started pulling on his arm trying to change his direction.

"Oh, hang-on Ellie, it's the spell I cast," Harry waved his wand cancelling it out.

Ellie immediately sighed in relief.

"Ugh that was so weird."

Harry used a _alohomora_ to unlock the door, pulling Ellie in with him. Tapping himself on his head he slowly rippled back into view before cancelling the charm on Ellie.

"I'll put the charm back on the door, just in case they come back."

"Good idea," Ellie smiled.

"Okay let's see if we can find Joel," Harry said while approaching a stairwell, the entryway was empty apart from the usual trash which littered most building these days. At the top of the stairs Harry performed another point-me.

"He should be near the end of this corridor on the right."

Harry and Ellie crept forward, Harry with his wand out just in case they were ambushed.

"Hey Ellie, you want to try calling out to Joel, I don't want him blowing my head off while trying to open a door."

"Yeah wouldn't want to mess your hair up," Ellie sniggered.

"shut it brat," Harry said although he had a grin on his face.

"Joel. Joel can you hear me?" she knocked lightly on the door, putting her ear to the door she listened, she could hear a faint cough.

"Harry, that's Joel, he sounds bad."

Harry quickly opened the door to what was an apartment, quickly surveying the area he spotted a waded-up bunch of cloth which was clearly soaked in blood, blood also went in a trail across the tiled floor to a closed door across an open living space. Moving rapidly Harry opened the door, lying on the floor prone was Joel, he looked a mess, his left leg pants were shredded and was drenched in blood.

"Shit, what the fuck happened Joel?" She dropped to her knees.

The only response they got was a groan, Joel appeared pale, either from blood loss or shock. Harry quickly started assessing what injuries he could see. Using his wand, he vanished the leg on his trousers, there appeared to be shrapnel embedded all up his thigh.

"Shit, I need to get this out before I can heal him."

Reaching into his moleskin pouch, Harry summoned a vial of blood replenishing potion.

"Here Ellie, give him this, make sure he swallows it all," Harry tossed her the vial.

While Harry started gently removing all the shrapnel, he could see which seemed to consist of metal scraps, bolts and nails. Ellie gently lifted Joel's head so she could slide her knees closer, resting his head on her thighs, she gently poured the fluid into his mouth.

"Come on Joel, just swallow it, it will make you better."

Joel didn't respond but did do as she asked, slowly his colour started to return although not his normal it was a lot better.

"I think I've got it all," Harry said.

He took his wand and slowly started it weaving it back and forwards over Joel's thigh, silently thanking Hermione for making him and Ron learn a variety of healing spells. Casting a diagnostic charm Joel's leg briefly glowed a soft green although there was a vivid red pulsing in the upper thigh.

"Shit, it looks like his thighs broken, I'll need to fix it but I'm no healer, it will take me a minute or two. You're going to have to try and keep him still Ellie. Just talk to him, keep him calm, this will hurt like a bitch."

Ellie looked grim but nodded.

Taking a breath, Harry started casting, out of the corner of his eye he could see Ellie murmuring to Joel who had a grimace on his face. He couldn't lose focus, or he could make the injury worse and must start all over again. Sweat started to appear on his brow, Harry was more brute force than finesse and he had to struggle not to overpower the spell. With a sigh of relief, he lowered his wand briefly before recasting the diagnostic spell, this time the whole leg glowed with a soft green.

Reaching back into his moleskin pouch Harry pulled out one of his last remaining pain relievers. He would have to investigate if there were materials to make more but he hadn't seen any magical plants or animals during his short time in this strange new world.

"This will help with the pain," he said while handling the vial to Harry. She was looking worryingly at Joel who seemed to be gritting his teeth due to the pain. She slowly poured the contents into his mouth, he had a disgusted look on his face briefly before his face relaxed as the pain relief kicked in and drowsiness took over.

"Best to let him sleep for a couple of hours, it's getting on so I reckon I should just ward the door here and setup the tent, we don't want to be travelling around at night if there's bandits nearby," Harry said as he stood up, opening the door which lead into the apartment he cast a muggle repelling on the outside of it before closing it and sealing it with a _colloportus_, with a squelch the door seemed to expand into the frame.

Pulling the moleskin pouch from around his neck he retrieved the magical tent and the ward stones. The stones might be overkill but better safe than sorry, no telling what these bandits were capable of. A few minutes later the stones were powered, and the tent was set up.

"Here, I'll move him into the tent, be more comfortable than the floor," Harry said while performing a _leviosa_ Joel floated off the floor, following the direction of Harrys wand, he floated him into the tent and into a bedroom. Gently lowering him down he closed the door before entering the sitting area. Ellie was already slumped on the couch.

"Here, let me clean you up a bit," Harry said, pointing at Ellies hands which were covered in dried blood.

"Huh, I didn't even realise. So, what do you reckon happened?"

"Well the damage to his leg looked like off one of those nail bombs he uses, maybe it was a tripwire or one of the bandits set it off, we'll have to wait until he wakes up. Don't worry though, his leg is fixed and after a couple of hours he'll be back to his grumpy old self." Harry said flicking his wand.

Ellie smiled seeing the blood on her hands just fade away.

"I'll never get over how fucking cool magic is," she grinned.

"There's so much I wish I could show you, but most of my skills were fighting based. My friend Hermione though, damn, she knew so much, she was like a sponge. I wonder if I'll ever see her or Ron again," he finished sadly.

"I'm sorry Harry."

"It's okay Ellie, I miss my friends and this world is all sorts of messed up, but I got to meet you and Joel."

Ellie snorted, "yeah, I dunno if that is a fair swap"

Performing a quick _tempus_ Harry realised it was later than he had thought.

"Hey Ellie, why don't you clean up while Joel's out of it, I'm going to go out and scout around and then I'll make some dinner."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me! You can't go out there by yourself Harry, you head what Joel said earlier and what happened to him," Ellie said heatedly.

"Hey, relax. I'm a wizard remember, I have all sort of tricks up my sleeve so to speak," he finished with a wink.

"Be back before you know it," and with a slight pop of displaced air the space he occupied was now empty.

"So fucking cool," Ellie smiled even though she was worried about Harry.

"Hey Ellie, I'm back," shouted Harry.

"Okay, be there in a minute," Ellie replied.

It had taken her a while to relax, the apartment was eerily silent apart from the soft snores coming from the room Joel was in. All her life she had been used to the hustle and bustle of being surrounded by other kids. It had taken her a while to get used to Joel's lack of conversation, but he did start opening up more after Harry had joined them. She couldn't even hear any wind or sounds coming from outside, must have been some of Harry's magic shit. She got dressed still not used to having hot water and clean clothes, even in the Military School water was restricted and luke warm at best.

Walking out into the living area she could smell some enticing aroma from the kitchenette, walking in she smiled, there was Harry with an apron on, chopping away.

"Hey," she greeted him.

"Hey yourself," he turned around and give her a smile, "I did some scouting, this city is all sorts of messed up. We're going to want to get out of her as soon as possible."

"What do you mean?"

"I popped around different parts of the city, from rooftop to rooftops mainly. There are bandits everywhere, and they have some sort of military truck thing racing around shooting anybody they see. I was tempted to take it out, but I didn't want to advertise or presence anymore than necessary. I'm thinking if Joel's up for it then tomorrow we just get out, I can transport you and him one at a time to the outskirts. I also want to speak to you two after dinner. There's something I've been thinking about."

"What is it?" Ellie asked curiously.

"Let's just save the talk for after we've ate okay," Harry said while returning to cooking.

Ellie frowned but didn't say anything further. She wondered what was up. Harry seemed to be straight forward with saying what was on his mind. She couldn't help feeling a bit worried that he seemed reluctant to say anything until later. Sighing she moved to the couch before pulling out a comic to kill some time.

Harry glanced over at Ellie who seemed engrossed in her comic but every know and then she looked in his direction. He shouldn't have said anything till later but with how messed up today was he wasn't thinking straight.

"Should be ready in about ten minutes Ellie. You want to go check how Joel is? If he's still asleep then just leave him, I can put some food aside for him under a warming charm."

"Yeah sure."

Putting her comic away she entered the room Joel was in, he still seemed to be soundly asleep and the colour had returned to his face. She went back to the sitting area where Harry was putting plates of food on the table.

"He's still out of it," Ellie said while sitting down.

Harry waved his wand at one of the plates.

"That will keep it warm until he's ready," Harry said.

"Damn Harry this is really good, Joel can't cook for shit," she laughed around a mouthful of stew.

"Yeah I've been cooking as long as I can remember, nice to be appreciated for it though," he smiled back at her.

Harry sighed before looking back at Ellie.

"I know I said I wanted to wait for Joel before I talked about this but since it seems like it may be a while before he's up, I may as well tell you know," he took a deep breath, "I think I need to leave you and Joel, at least for a while. I'll help you on your way and give you some protections, but I really need to know if there are other magicals around or if there's no chance of me returning to my own time."

Ellie didn't say anything for a while before she murmured, "oh, okay then."

"I promise you I will come back but please understand why I have to do this. I really like you Ellie and Joel as well of course but this journey you are on could take months and I cannot wait all that time not knowing," Harry said while silently pleading for Ellie to understand why he had to do this.

She looked up at him, it looked like she was trying to hold back tears which surprised him because really, they hadn't known each other that long.

"It's okay, I get it, I dunno why I expected you to stay with us anyway. Everybody always ends up leaving. I think I'm going to lie down for a bit."

"Ellie wait," Harry said standing up and moving over towards her, taken her by the arms he pulled her in close before wrapping her in his arms, "I swear on my magic that I will be back. I'm not leaving you."

He could feel her body shake as she started to sob, he slowly rubbed his hand up and down her back and after a few minutes she started to relax before giving him a watery smile.

"I'll be fine, sorry," she said while pulling away and wiping at her eyes.

"Come on," Harry said while pulling her towards the sofa, "tell me something about yourself that I don't know, then I'll tell you something."

"hmm," Ellie spent a few moments thinking before replying, "I dunno really, most of my life all I can remember is moving been schools before I arrived at the Boston Q.Z. I bet you've done more interesting stuff."

"Yeah my childhood wasn't the best, I didn't have any friends until after I found out I was a wizard, I mean I did have some fun times at the boarding school but each year there seemed to be sone danger which overshadowed everything and the older we got the worse it seemed to get," Harry sighed, "of course it was all related to a homicidal maniac who I eventually beat but not before a lot of people, friends included lost their lives."

Ellie reached over and gently grasped his hand.

"Okay, we need to lighten the mood. If you could do anything at all, what would it be? And nothing serious, something fun!"

Harry thought for a minute, "well it is dangerous but in a fun way. I would like to try bungie jumping, it looks so much fun."

"What the fuck is a bungie?" Ellie giggled

"Oh right, yeah it's a big elastic rope, people used to jump off high bridges and things and the rope would stop you and bounce you back up," Harry replied.

"No way, you're totally shitting me!"

"I swear, it's totally true. Ask Joel when he's up," Harry grinned before remembering something. Pulling off his pouch he reached in, Ellie giggling at how ridiculous it looked with his whole arm disappearing into the small cloth bag, "Aha, found it. Pulling his arm out he handed Ellie a small colourful cardboard box.

Ellie looked at it curiously, "Chocolate Frog, wait, is this real chocolate?" she asked in an excited tone.

"Sure is, but it's magical chocolate, watch it doesn't escape."

"Really?" Ellie looked dubiously at the packet.

"Yeah the first one I ever had jumped out of the train window on my way to school," Harry laughed, "just bite the head off quick, it's just a spell"

Ellie eagerly opened the packaging, grabbing the frog and stuffing the whole thing in her mouth.

Harry burst out laughing, "not taking any chances on it escaping I see!"

Ellie spent a minute chewing before giving Harry a beaming smile, "that tasted so fucking good, thanks Harry!"

"You're welcome Ellie, I'm going to go and get cleaned up before Joel is awake, no doubt he'll need to clean up as well."

"Oh, before you go can you do the kettle thing," Ellie asked.

Harry went into the kitchenette and with a tap of his wand the kettle was steaming.

"Thanks Harry," Ellie said before surprising him by hugging him," thanks you know for talking to me and you know the chocolate."

Harry just held her tight for a minute before gently kissing her on the forehead, "you're welcome Ellie."

By the time he finished cleaning up he could hear the low rumble of Joel's voice on the other side of the door. Evidently, he was well enough to get out of bed, confirming that he preformed the diagnostic spell correctly, something he had been quietly worrying about but didn't feel the need to burden Ellie with on top of everything else. He was feeling a bit confused when it came to Ellie, he recognized a strength of purpose in her which originally attracted him to Ginny, but there was also a lot of vulnerability. He also realized he had to be careful, judging from her reaction to his plan to seek out other magical she had grown quite attached to him in the short time they had been together. He reasoned it was because he was a lot closer to her age than Joel and from what little he had managed to glean, she didn't have many friends or at least none she talked about.

"Hey Joel, how you feeling?" he asked while leaving the bathroom.

"Yeah good, Ellie says I have you to thank for getting me back on my feet."

"Ah it was nothing, just a bit of wand waving and a few potions. I know you said to stay put but after we heard the explosion I had to check you were okay and I made sure that Ellie was well protected and not at risk the whole time," Harry replied.

"Hey, I'm not a kid you know, I can handle myself!"

"That's not what I meant Ellie, I know you can handle yourself, damn you're tougher than me by loads."

Ellie's only response was to blush and she suddenly seemed to find the floor very interesting.

"Did Ellie also tell you my plan to seek out other magicals?"

"Yeah she mentioned some of it, look Harry, don't take this the wrong way but going out by yourself in this world is dangerous, I mean look at me, I've had twenty years of this shit and I still got caught out. I know you have your magic stuff but from what I understand you're planning to travel half way across the world, that's going to be far from easy," Joel said with a frown.

Harry sat down at the table before pouring himself a coffee, gesturing to Joel's cup he offered a refill, Joel nodded in reply.

"Hey Ellie, check that cupboard over there, something in it you may like," Harry gestured.

"I know what you're saying Joel but it's not like I'll be travelling over land. I'm planning to use a portkey, err it's a form of magical transport, similar to how I move myself but you perform a spell on an object then that object can transport you to wherever you want, no distance limitations," at the hopeful look on Joel's face Harry hated to spoil it but, "yeah, I can see what you're thinking but I'm sorry, the spell works on intent and knowledge, I need to have been to the place I need to travel to, I have to visualise it in my mind when I cast the spell."

"Well damn, for a moment there I thought this whole journey became a lot easier," Joel said with a grimace as he reached down and rubbed his thigh.

"Here take this, the pain potion must be running off, it will make you sleepy though," Harry said handing over a small vial.

Joel uncorked it before taking a sniff, "Damn that smells like crap," before tipping it back and swallowing the whole thing. His face twisted up into a disgusted grimace," damn, it even tastes worse than crap."

At this Ellie sat back down to the table giggling while Harry tried to keep a straight face at the look of disgust on Joel's face.

"Here, let me," Harry said while taking from Ellie the bottle she sat down with, twisting the cap he swished his wand, conjuring a glass and poured the liquid in.

Ellie cautiously lifted it before taking a whiff, she appeared satisfied as she took a big gulp before she belched happily.

"Oh that is so good!"

"What is it?" Joel asked curiously.

"It's butterbeer, don't worry it's very low alcohol content, similar to a shandy but it was popular in the wizarding world, we all used to drink it when we could visit the local village when we had free weekends."

Ellie was happily sipping at the drink with a foam moustache and a smile on her face.

"What's a shandy?" she asked.

"It was mainly just lemonade with some beer mixed in it," Replied Harry.

"Sounds gross."

Joel just grunted but seemed to be amused at Ellie's attitude, Harry didn't know if it was the pain relief potion or if he was getting more relaxed around her, hopefully it was the latter.

"So, what I was thinking tomorrow was I'll help you and Ellie out of this city and set you on your way, I'll give you some magical protections and you can take the tent. I can modify it, so you'll be able to activate it. I cannot really do anything about the cooking though, it needs magic to activate, same with the kettle, the lights will still work, they just activate automatically when somebody enters. Any thoughts?"

"It's a damn shame you're leaving, I have to admit you've made things a lot easier for us and was nice to have somebody else around. So how will you get us out of the city?" Joel enquired.

"I'll apparate, you know, my magic travel thing to the other side of the city where the bridge is. I can do it while being invisible and scout out the area. Once I can visualise it in my mind I can pop back here and take you over one at a time. Will that work for you?"

"Yeah sure, guess we better get some rest then, I think that crap you gave me is working," Joel said with a yawn before standing up, "I'll see you both in the morning."

"Night Joel," replied Ellie and Harry.

Ellie tipped the last dregs out of her glass before standing up. Harry waved his wand making the bottle and glass vanish.

"So, I guess I'll get some sleep as well," Ellie said while reaching for her backpack.

Harry debated for a moment before reaching out and pulling her into a hug," Night Ellie, it will all work out okay." He held her a moment longer before gently pressing a kiss to her check.

Ellie blushed brightly but smiled back at him before leaving for the bedroom.

Harry sat back down at the table, he was confused and uncertain if what he was going to do tomorrow was the right thing. Even if he found the magical community did exist in this reality he was still out of time, he would have to be careful when he investigated, or should he just forget it and just accept this was where he was stuck permanently. He had changed his mind several times over the course of the day since he first thought about it. He was confused about his feelings towards Ellie as well, he knew he liked her as a potential friend but there was something else there, he just wasn't sure what it was yet. Sighing he decided he was too restless to sleep just yet. Pulling out his invisibility cloak he disapparated with a whisper, appearing on a nearby rooftop.

The city seemed quiet at the moment, but he knew quiet could be deceptive and you never knew what was lurking around the next corner. He visualised the building he was on earlier today and made another jump. He did this several more times before appearing on an office building overlooking what seemed to be an old military checkpoint. There was a searchlight on top and a quick _Homenum Revelio_ revealed two men beside the spotlight with another wandering in front of the gate, there seemed to be some sort of guard house where he could see at least five people spotted around. With a look of concentration Harry appeared on the gantry over the gate, only a couple of meters around stood the guys on the spotlight, completely oblivious to his appearance.

Looking behind the gate was a truck and another gate, making a short apparition he appeared on the truck, there was the bridge leading out of the city, making short jumps in line of site he came to the middle of the bridge where a massive hole had been blown into the structure. If he had to guess, he would say the military did it to stop either approaching enemies or infected from approaching from that direction.

He jumped the gap, before appearing higher up on the bridge, the wind was really howling and threatened to push him off, but he knew if he fell, he could safely make it to the ground and it give him a fantastic view of the surrounding area. This side seemed mainly clear, the land stretched over on the right before seeming to round into a coastline. He reckoned that would be a good place as any to set Joel and Ellie onto their journey. Making it down to the beach, he surveyed it as best he could in the limited light, he didn't want to cast a lumos and alert anything nearby, he decided he would come back here in the morning and check it out again in a better light. Taking a good look around and memorising the landmarks he could see he disapparated back to the tent.

After a restless night's sleep Harry decided to get up and start the day however reluctant he was, making a cup of coffee it wasn't long before Joel joined him.

"Morning."

Harry greeted him in reply and poured him a cup of coffee.

Joel inhaled deeply before taking a sip of his favourite beverage.

"I did some scouting last night, the city was pretty clear, didn't see that armoured truck around, the other side of the city just before the bridge has a checkpoint manned by hunters and beyond that the bridge. It looks like it was bombed by the military at some time as there's a big gaping whole in the middle, beyond that is the coastline on the right, I've found a place I think will be suitable to get you on your way but I want to go and check it out again in the light. You want to come along? Give me your take."

Joel nodded in reply.

Harry smirked, "I hope you have a strong stomach, apparition takes some getting used to. How about we wait until Ellie is up, I don't want her panicking if we're both missing when she wakes."

Joel appraised Harry for a moment before gathering his thoughts.

"You know, that gal is really going to miss you when you're gone. I don't know much about her, by my own choice I reckon, and I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with, guess I'm old and set in my ways and I don't err I don't do well with kids to be honest. I've avoided them for twenty years and if it wasn't a dying woman's wish I wouldn't be on this journey."

Harry was surprised, Joel wasn't a one to open up or even talk much to be honest.

"Yeah, I gathered she doesn't have many friends, guess it's a consequence as moving around so much, and she said she was only in Boston for a couple of years. So why don't you like kids?"

Joel took a sip of his coffee before with a sigh replied, "I just had a bad experience, not something I much wanna talk about okay."

"Yeah I get that. Well I will tell you what I told Ellie, I plan to make my trip as quickly as I can, and I will return once I have found some answers. Before I leave, I will cast some protection spells on yourself and Ellie and a tracking spell. It should provide you with some protection in case of trouble and I will be able to find you wherever you are."

Ellie slumped out of the room and sat down at the table, she still looked half asleep and her hair was in disarray, in fact Harry thought this was the first time he had saw her without it up in her customary ponytail. Harry realised he was staring and took a cup of his coffee hoping she hadn't noticed, she seemed oblivious, but he noticed Joel was looking at him with a calculating expression on his face.

"Morning Ellie, so I was telling Joel I scouted out a place last night, me and Joel are going to check it out, it should only take us ten minutes or so. You going to be okay if we leave you here for a bit?"

"Yeah I guess, don't be long though."

"Waters hot, help yourself to some breakfast, there's some pancakes over there on the bench."

He had barely uttered the words before had left the table with a smile on her face.

"You ready Joel? A bit of advice, breath in deeply and hold it."

Joel looked resigned but did as Harry suggested, Harry wrapped his arm around Joel's wrist and with a pop of displaced air they were gone.

Ellie barely noticed as she wolfed down the pancakes Harry had left for her.

Joel and Harry reappeared on a quiet shore with barely a whisper, immediately Joel groaned before bending over with his hands on his knees taking shallow breaths.

"Damn you weren't kidding, that's one of the worst feelings I've ever experienced," Joel said between sharp intakes of air.

"Yeah it takes some getting used to and side-along is always worse, it's more natural, well at least to magicals when you do it yourself," Harry said while looking around.

The place seemed to be deserted, the only sounds being the waves and the cry of birds overhead. In the distance all he could see were rocks and what looked to be an old fishing boat washed up on shore, there were no sign of infected or humans being here though, the sandy shore was unblemished as far as he could see, not a footprint in sight.

"So, what do you reckon?" Harry asked.

"Seems safe enough, what about getting of it though, is there a way out?" Joel asked while looking around.

"This is as far as I get, I'll jump ahead a bit and check it out. You want to come or you happy enough here?" Harry grinned.

"Yeah, I'll stay right here thanks, that travel sucks, in fact it sucks so much I think after you check out ahead you should go and get Ellie, I'll do some scouting and it means I won't feel like I've been squeezed out a tube of toothpaste!"

Harry laughed before reappearing further up the beach, the boat was a wreck and definitely wouldn't be sailing again, moving forward he came to what appeared to be the end of the beach, he couldn't see enough to get bearings to move that way, doubling back to the boat he went in the other direction inland, climbing up some rocks he came to a iron grate covering a large pipe, must be some sort of sewer system. Yeah it wouldn't be wise to be stumbling around in some dark tunnels with no map. This could be a problem. Harry reappeared on the bridge, he could barely see Joel in the distance moving around on the shore. For the umpteenth time he wished he has his broom with him, it would have made scouting so much easier. Picking a direction, he apparated, appearing on a hilly sparsely covered with bushes, he repeated this several times before appearing at the peak, a valley lay in front of him, a small suburban neighbourhood stretched off into the distance and there appeared to be some sort of transmitting tower further off. He couldn't see any sign of life, he could barely hear dogs barking in the distance. This looked a lot better place than the beach, there were houses which could be scavenged for useful items and cover in case of attackers. Taking a good look at his surroundings and memorising it he reappeared back on the beach.

"Hey Joel, you were right, this place is pretty much a dead end apart from a sewer system I didn't think you would like to travel through, the other side of the hill is a small housing estate, it looks pretty deserted."

"Sounds like a better bet, you want to take me there now so I can get the torture over with?" Joel replied.

Harry grabbed Joel's wrist and popped them onto the hill overlooking the houses.

"A thought you said it got easier, it still felt terrible," Joel wheezed.

"Yeah it takes a while, hold still a minute, I'll cast a tracking charm so you can check around while we pack up and can find you easily."

"Okay then," Joel replied with a weary look on his face. He had seen what Harry could do with that wand, it was like having a weapon pointed at you.

With a quick twirl Harry jabbed the wand at Joel who briefly glowed before the light dissipated.

"Right I'll go and get Ellie, be back in around ten minutes."

Ellie had just finished changing and was walking back into the living area when Harry suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Ah for fuck sakes Harry, I nearly shit my pants!"

Harry couldn't help it and burst out laughing, "Oh you should have seen the look on your face, I've never seen somebody go white so quickly."

Ellie punched him in the arm before pouting in what Harry though was an adorable fashion. He was really going to miss her when he left, he just hoped he could keep his promise and return.

"We found a small town not far over the bridge, Joel is checking it out, he didn't want to experience my type of travel again, he nearly puked the first time." Harry said with a snigger.

"Oh man, I would have loved to see that," she giggled.

"We need to pack up and go meet Joel," Harry said with a sad smile.

Ten minutes later they were ready to go, Harry had dispelled the muggle repelling on the door and collected the ward stones, the tent was all packed up, he had adjusted it so just pressing in a certain order would enlarge and reduce it, he taught Ellie how to do it so she could show Joel.

"You ready?"

Ellie nodded, Harry stepped closer before pulling her in close, "I can make the jump a bit easier, but I didn't fancy hugging Joel like this," Harry laughed.

"Oh man, I would have payed to see his face if you did," Ellie laughed while laying her head on his shoulder.

Harry tightened his grip slightly before concentrating, thinking of Joel's location and pushing power he and Ellie slowly faded out of view. A few seconds later they materialised on a roadway with houses surrounding them, Joel was nearby poking around in a garage.

Harry disentangled himself from Ellie reluctantly before calling out to Joel that they were here.

Joel wandered over, Ellie was looking around curiously none the worse for wear. Harry sighed, once again doubts clouded his thoughts, but he knew he needed to do this.

"Well I guess this is it guys, I've modified the tent, oh Ellie, stand still while I cast a tracking charm, " Harry swirled his wand before jabbing it at Ellie after the glow faded he continued, "I've cast charms on all your clothing we cleaned, they won't make you invincible but they will provide some protection. Help yourself to any food in there and I'll try to get back as soon as I can, but I cannot promise when it will be just that I will return, no matter what I find."

Joel wandered over, extending his hand to Harry, "Thanks for all your help Harry, I hope you find what you're looking for."

Ellie came over she looked indecisive for a moment before launching herself at Harry, he wrapped his arms around her rubbing her back.

"Hey, I'll be okay, be back before you know it," he said.

Ellie leaned back slightly to look at him, unshed tears glistened in here eyes before one slowly slid down her cheek, Harry gently brushed it away with his thumb before leaning in close and whispering in here ear, "I'm coming back for you Ellie, don't ever doubt that."

With a sad smile he released her before stepping back, looking around he spotted an old can, picking it up he concentrated, envisioning Charing Cross road in London, with a whispered _portus_ the can faintly glowed blue.

"See you later guys!" Harry said before with a swirl of colour he disappeared.

Ellie looked at the place he was before softly whispering to herself, "come back soon."

I know not a lot happened in this chapter, I wanted to spend some more time character building, expect another update in around a week, this hasn't been proof-read due to limited time, so I hope there aren't too many mistakes. Until next time.


	4. Chapter 4

Ellie sighed, pulling her hood closer to her face it made little difference to the driving rain, a few metres ahead Joel slogged onwards while still carefully scanning his surroundings due to the limited visibility. If you had of told her just three days ago that she would be this miserable she would have laughed. She found it funny how one person could make such a difference, at first she tried to tell herself it was just the magic she missed, then she realised as cool as the magic was, it was Harry himself that she missed, his ability to both amaze her and make her smile, his ability to turn her into a blushing idiot she didn't miss as much and still didn't quite understand why it happened. She had always thought of herself as liking girls after her feelings for Riley and boys had never interested her but there was something about Harry that attracted her, now that he had left, and she never knew if she would see him again it forced her to be honest with what she was feeling. She had always thought of herself as strong willed, growing up in orphanages and military schools you either had to stand up for yourself or be thought of as weak. Sighing again she called out to Joel.

"Hey Joel, you see anything?"

"This rain ain't helping but it looks like some sort of shack up ahead. How about we just hole up there? If the rain keeps up, we can throw the tent up, should be okay from what Harry explained." He replied.

"Sounds good," Ellie answered while increasing her pace to match Joel's.

The shack was barely standing, a tree had been uprooted on one side and was embedded in a corner, the floor was mainly clear though and the remaining roof provided some relief from the rain, luckily the wind was blowing from the rear so wasn't being blown into the open doorway.

"I'll get us a fire going," Joel said while collecting bits of timber and branches which were mostly dry.

Ellie, pulled off her backpack, picking a spot on the floor she sat down, picking up smaller twigs and wood pieces in reach to use as kindling.

"We could use Harry and his magic stick right about now, eh Ellie."

"His wand"

"Huh."

"It's a wand not a magic stick," she snorted, "come on dude you're not that old, your memory cannot be failing already."

"Cheeky brat," Joel replied with a trace of humour in his voice.

Ellie had noticed that ever since Harry had joined them Joel had started relaxing a bit more and even after the events of Pittsburgh, he was still a lot more chilled out than when they had started their journey together.

Ellies thoughts once again returned to Harry, he had promised he would come back but she knew in this world, no matter how good your intentions were, things never worked out the way you wanted. He said he could find them wherever they were, hopefully he would return soon. While she was more comfortable around Joel now, he wasn't a one just for chatting. She never thought of herself as needing to be around others but when she thought back to when she arrived in Boston, soon her and Riley were inseparable until she disappeared for weeks on end then Ellie found that she preferred her own company. Riley's friends were okay, but they were her friends and Ellie found without Riley around she didn't have anything inn common with them. With Harry it was different though. Even though they were from different worlds they seemed to click and she felt totally comfortable around him after a day.

Looking over at Joel he was busy shaving bits of wood off a piece of timber to get the fire going, she wondered what his story was, even at the start of their journey he had moments where he talked to her nicely as if he liked her but then he shut down quickly and went back to his abrasive self. She had long ago accepted that she was an orphan and had no parents but when Joel stopped beside her in Boston on the rooftops and asked her about the view his voice had warmth in it, and it seemed like something a father would say. She new she was being daft, and this was just a job to Joel, but she couldn't help feeling that he didn't just view her as cargo now and may even like her.

She once again wondered what his story was. It didn't take a genius to work out that something terrible had happened in the past which turned him into the person he is now.

"Ellie, I'll warm us up some food and then we should just call it for today and set up the tent, this damn rain looks like it's in for the rest of the day."

"Yeah, I call dibs on the bath first," Ellie said with a happy smile.

The idea of soaking in a warm bath after being cold and wet all day was so good. Once again, her thoughts returned to Harry. She hoped no matter what he was doing that he was safe and well.

Harry appeared on a corner of Charing Cross Road, making sure his cloak was in place and he was fully covered he set off down to where the Leaky Cauldron would be in his world. Debris and wrecked cars were scattered everywhere. All the buildings looked derelict, doors hanging open, windows smashed. Reaching his destination there was a pub but he couldn't tell if it was the Leaky or not, it was just as destroyed as the rest of the street. It took him thirty minutes to clear the debris enough to get to the back yard, the whole place felt like it was ready to collapse. Ducking under a fallen crossbeam his spirits sank as he caught sight of where the entrance to Diagon Alley would be. There were the remains of a brick wall but beyond it was just what looked to have one time or other been a park. Now it was just wild grass and trash and the remains of what looked like a camping site.

Stepping over the wall Harry looked around, nothing of the magical world he remembered was apparent. This had obviously never contained buildings, there would have been some evidence left even if they were bombed out like seemly happened everywhere in the muggle world to try and eradicate the infected.

Walking forward a screech rendered the air before a clicker lurched towards him clicking wildly trying to locate its prey. Rather than deal with the menace Harry focused on his next destination, appearing in Little Whinging in Surrey he appeared on what would have been the driveway to his Aunt and Uncles suburban home. If Aunt Petunia could see it now, she would likely have a heart attack, there was a car embedded into what would have been the living room and the front half of the house had collapsed onto it and into the garden. He knew he wouldn't find any answers here, but it was the first place he thought of when the Clicker surprised him.

Focusing on his next destination, Harry disapparated.

Nothing, there was absolutely nothing here, all the places he remembered visiting with Ron and Hermione didn't exist, instead of Hogsmeade there was just desolation, no buildings, not even any infected. It was getting late on to the afternoon, but he decided he may as well check out Hogwarts location before he rested for the night. He was second guessing that decision as there was no clear paths in the direction he needed to go, he made liberal use cutting charms to push his way through, but it was slow going. Eventually he was close enough that in his dimension Hogwarts gates would be apparent in a moment.

His heart sunk, no gates, no castle, there was nothing, he could see clear across the land, the late afternoon sunlight glinting off the waters of the Black Lake. Trudging towards the lake he decided he may as well take some rest. He set the wardstones and powered them up before conjuring himself a chair and after taking off his backpack sank back into the chair. Realistically he knew that his journey wouldn't be successful, but he always had a little bit of hope that he would find something. He had to accept that this was his world now, he had no idea how he would even attempt to return to his own reality. He could return to Ellie and Joel now, but he needed some space to get his head on straight. His heart sank at the idea of never seeing Hermione and Ron again, of everything in his old world, they would be who he missed most.

With a start Harry came awake, he must have been more tired than he thought, wondering what had woke him so suddenly he felt it then, a faint tug on his magic tied to the wardstones. Drawing his wand, he scanned the immediate area, nothing seemed amiss, so what had alerted him. Something was off. Pretending to be at ease, he lowered his wand while silently casting a revealing charm, there about thirty foot near the lake shore, he got two pings and they were magical signatures.

Getting to his feet, Harry made sure his cloak was fully in place before nudging a wardstone with his foot breaking the protection. Immediately the figures on the shore whirled around, both raising what appeared to be crossbows, slowly moving forward Harry kept his wand trained on the figures before stopping in surprise, Centaurs, they were still Centaurs here probably living in what he called the Forbidden Forrest, which meant this world did contain magic in some form.

"Halt human, I can smell you there. Reveal yourself," a deep voice called out. Coming from the larger of the centaurs.

Deciding to take a risk, Harry replaced his wand in his holster before slowly removing his cloak.

"Hello, I'm not here to cause trouble. I was just looking for something," Harry said slowly moving forward.

"How is it you wield magic human, how is this possible?" The smaller but what appeared to be the older Centaur asked.

"This is quite hard to explain but let me see. I'm from a world where a lot of beings are magical. Humans, Centaurs, Goblins, Dragons, Elves and so many others. I found myself in this world several months ago and I've been looking for signs of the magical world ever since. This area in my world contained the magical school of Hogwarts." Harry said.

The two Centaurs started conversing back and forwards in low tones. Harry strained to hear what they were saying but the few words he could make out made no sense.

"I am Bane, and this is Firenze," the larger Centaur said," please follow us. Our herd leader Magorian would no doubt be interested in your story and may be able to provide you with assistance."

Harry moved closed," I'm Harry. Harry Potter." He said while trying to hide his amusement at finding two of the Centaurs he had knew in his world, although he didn't recognise them at first.

They led him on a winding path through the forest and after several minutes Harry couldn't even remember which way they had entered, he hoped the Centaurs in this world were like their counterparts. While some disliked humans because of the treatment they received, most had been genial. After a considerable amount of time they entered what appeared to be the main centaur village with a meeting place in the centaur.

"Magorian. I have a human here with an interesting story for you and he carries the gift of magic."

The elder centaur wandered closer to the three of them. Looking Harry up and down, he sniffed once then again.

"You do carry the scent of a magic wielder. How long have you had this gift youngling?"

"I've always had it, I was born a Wizard to parents who were a Wizard and Witch. In my world it was quite common," Harry shrugged.

"Indeed. Come let us sit and discuss this."

Harry had a headache, he forgot how infuriating it could be dealing with centaurs. He must of repeat his story ten times if not more. He had learned some useful facts though. The Centaurs claimed that in their oral history there were stories of humans who wielded magic. Seemly these humans were far and few between though and stories of them had faded throughout history. None of the Centaurs in the village had ever met a human who wielded magic or knew of any magical settlement.

Seemly there were a variety of magical species in this world but none of the larger ones. The Centaurs said even here they had problems with infected from time to time. Harry offered to ward the village area with muggle repelling to repay them for the hospitality. Magorian seemed amused but gave Harry permission to do so. They had a chance to test them later in the evening when they heard the cracking of branches from further in the forest before several runners stumbled into the edge of the clearing, they looked around before appearing to become confused then wandered off back the way they came.

After that even the more warier of the Centaurs warmed up to Harry thanking him for protecting their home and younglings and each presenting him with small bundles, some contained what he identified as magical plants, one bundle contained ten exquisitely crafted arrow heads, tiny runes were engraved in the metal, he could identify some although his knowledge of runes wasn't great but he knew these would never break or dull through normal use.

The Centaurs offered him a place to stay for the night before he resumed his journey which Harry happily accepted. Tomorrow he would seek out Ellie and Joel and resume their journey, although what he could do in the long term eluded him. At least with magic he was in a lot better position to protect himself than others.

After Harry had retired for the night Magorian and Bane sat around the fire contemplating, the rest of the herd were settling down for the night, they still had guards on duty although the addition of the wards had helped alleviate some of the fears which came when night fell and detecting the infected became harder.

"Don't you think we should have told him?" Bane asked in a low whisper.

"If he is the child mentioned in the prophecy then it would do no good to burden him with the knowledge Bane. You heard yourself how prophecy has effected his whole life, would you wish him to have this worry on top of everything else he is dealing with after being ripped from his world."

"I understand Magorian. I just think the knowledge might help him obtain his mate who would help him in his task."

Magorian laughed.

"Bane for somebody so observant you often miss what is in front of your face."

"What do you mean?"

"Did you not hear him tell of those he has met since entering this world, do you not see the light in his eyes when he talks of one of them. Of course, I may be mistaken but from my observations of the stars, powerful forces are afoot and were in conjunction for many nights. I don't think it is mere coincidence that since Harry travelled over the great sea both stars dimmed. I think if I'm right we will see them blaze in the sky once more upon Harry returning to his task."

"I guess all we can do is wait and see. At least we have the talisman which Harry provided if we need or can aid him in the future. "Bane agreed.

Harry awoke in the morning disorientated. Before remembering where he was. He could here faint sounds of movement outside and although he couldn't see the sun it still appeared to be early. It was times like this he missed the magical tent and its bathroom, instead he cast some freshening charms and changed clothing, he scourgified his old clothes before deciding they needed a proper cleaning, something he would deal with when he returned. He wasn't sure what the time difference was between here and Ellie but he reckoned it was at least five hours or more so he would wait until this afternoon until he used a portkey to travel back.

Harry spent a pleasant morning playing with some of the foals in the village, entertaining them with his magic and telling stories of some of his adventures. Before he knew it, it was time for him to leave. The whole village once again came out to wish him well on his journey before Majorian presented him with a lovely bow.

"Whilst I know you cast magic using great skill with that wand of yours, sometimes a different approach is needed or maybe the bow isn't meant for you at all," Majorian intoned with a knowing look.

Harry thought that was a weird thing to say but took the bow with thanks, like the arrow tips the bow contained runes running the length of it. Firenze had explained that for best results the arrows should be made by the wielder of the bow, hence why they didn't give any arrows themselves, the best results would always be obtained by harvesting the wood yourself and fashioning the arrows. He couldn't see himself using a bow, it took quite a bit of skill, but he wondered if Ellie would be any good with it, was that what Majorian was hinting at? He could never tell with Centaurs, they often talked in riddles.

Activating the portkey Harry disappeared in a swirl of colour.

"I think we are in for interesting times, "Majorian proclaimed to the Centaurs gathered around, "and I imagine Harry will be at the centre of them."

Ellie yawned before stretching, it felt so good to sleep on an actual bed again. Just waking up warm and cosy and not being constantly cold, wet and uncomfortable was such a relief. She could smell the scents of food being cooked so it mustn't be too late. Joel must be up and about. She pulled on some clothes before gathering some fresh ones and making her way to the bathroom.

"Hey Joel, I'll just be a few minutes" Ellie called on her way through.

Entering the bathroom, she looked in the mirror critically, everyday she checked to see if she was growing, Joel said she would hit a growth spurt one day, but she looked the same as ever, sighing she started running a bath.

Meanwhile Harry was in the kitchen shaking his head, Ellie had just stumbled through not even sparing a glance in his direction. Making some coffee he sat down, a few moments later Joel entered, he looked at Harry then at the bathroom door before sitting down opposite.

"From the lack of screams I take it Ellie didn't even notice you were here?"

"Yep, she stumbled through, said morning Joel without even a glance," Harry smiled passing Joel a cup of coffee.

Joel took a sip before sighing in contentment.

"Nothing better than coffee when you don't have to spend twenty minutes in the cold making a fire and heating up water beforehand. So how did your trip go?"

"It wasn't a total failure. There aren't any magical humans in this world or at least nothing like there was in my world. I did find the Centaurs living in a forest in Scotland. They were helpful in providing information."

"Centaurs? You mean those are real, the half horse people things?"

"Yeah, ha, although I would never call them that to their faces, they're quite sensitive about some things. So, it looks like I'm stuck in this world for the foreseeable future. If you still don't mind, I'll re-join you and Ellie on your journey."

"Sure, you're welcome Harry and I don't think you'll get any objections from Ellie, in fact I think she would have preferred your company than mine, she's been downright miserable since you left, although she tried to hide it, she isn't as subtle as she thinks she is."

Ellie wandered out from the bathroom before spotting Harry sitting at the table with Joel.

"Harry, you're back," she practically screamed.

"Oh, you noticed did you, you didn't seem bothered on the way to the bathroom," Harry laughed.

"Oh, shit sorry, I was um still half asleep," Ellie replied blushing.

"Don't take it personally Harry, you would get more sense talking to a runner than Ellie first thing in the morning."

Ellie shot him an indignant look, "I'm just not a morning person Joel, what's your excuse?"

She sat down next to Harry who was trying to hide his laughter at Ellie's jibe while Joel just sighed and drank his coffee.

"So come on spill, what did you do? Did you find anything?" Ellie mumbled around a mouthful of toast.

"I was just telling Joel, no others like me but I did find some Centaurs."

Ellie stopped eating giving Harry a curious look, "You're just fucking with me. Right Joel?"

"Hey, you know more about this magic stuff than me but that's the same thing Harry told me," Joel replied.

"That is so awesome, tell me more Harry."

Inwardly Harry smiled, just being back in Ellie's company released some of the tension he had been under since leaving for his trip. It was strange, often she reminded him of Ginny, she had that same determination and self-reliance, then others she was like Hermione, even though her knowledge was sometimes muddled she was an avid reader and had a ferocious appetite for knowledge. Then at other times he saw a resemblance to Luna, with her sense of fun and wonder at the world. No wonder she put him at ease so much, she was like a combination of some of his favourite people, but she was unique as well. Once again, he thought about his attraction to her, telling himself it was totally normal. She was an attractive girl and had many qualities he admired, the age difference didn't really bother him, maybe in his world he would have suggested maybe waiting a while until they dated but, in this world, there was no guarantee you would see tomorrow, never mind months or longer. He decided it needed some further thought, now he couldn't return home he had to make some sort of life for himself here and he wanted Ellie to be part of it, that's if she felt the same. She sometimes stumbled and blushed around him but that could mean anything. He knew whatever happened he had made a friend for life, however long that may be.

The rain was still coming down heavily outside so Joel seemed happy enough to spend the morning maintaining his array of weapons.

Harry had spent the morning chatting with Harry, telling her about his travels but also telling her more about his old world, his first experience of the Leaky Cauldron. People clamouring to shake his hand and him having no idea why, his amazement at seeing Diagon Alley for the first time. Ellie seemed to love hearing about the magical world. It saddened him when he realised some of the things, he experienced that Ellie likely never would, like travelling with friends on a train or just wandering around a village without the threat of infected or hunters.

"Oh, that reminds me, I have something for you Ellie," Harry said.

"What is it?" Ellie asked excitedly.

Harry placed the bow he had been gifted by the Centaurs on the table.

Ellie looked at it before returning her gaze to Harry, "seriously, this is for me?"

"Well I think you will be a better shot than me and you should be armed," Harry said while looking in Joel's direction wondering if he was going to object.

Joel looked up, glanced at the bow and simply said," Makes sense." Before going back to his maintenance.

Harry was surprised, he had expected Joel to object a bit more but he was glad he didn't have to force the issue.

"You will need to make some arrows though Ellie, the Centaurs said you will get best results like that, if you look at the handle you will see runes engraved in it."

Ellie picked the bow up carefully and looked where Harry had indicated, she could see various shapes that were engraved into the bow. She had no idea what they meant but the looked kind of cool anyway.

"What do they do?"

"Well the bits I can understand are about strength so I imagine the bow will be unbreakable." Unrolling a cloth, he showed Ellie the arrow heads. "These have runes as well and I reckon they will never blunt or tarnish."

"That is so awesome, do you know how to make arrows?"

"Honestly I have no idea, but I think I know somebody who will," Harry said while nodding in Joel's direction.

"Hey Joel, err do you know how to make arrows?"

Joel put down the rifle he was working on, wiping his hands on a cloth before joining them at the table. He picked up an arrow head before whistling, "Wow, I haven't seen craftmanship like this in decades. The Centaurs made these?"

"Yeah, they mine the metals themselves and forge them. They don't usually part with them but I warded their village against the infected and promised them I would come to their aid if they were in trouble, so they gave me that and various other things as a thank you."

"Wait, you can ward entire villages?" Joel looked at him curiously.

"Well I can, the thing is, the ward is against non-magicals, so if I applied that to say somewhere like Bill's town, it would keep the infected away, but it would also keep away anybody else."

"Well there goes that idea." Joel said with a scowl before gesturing to Ellie. She handed him the bow, Ellie tested the pull and it's balance, "the quality of this is just as good as the arrows. You sure you will be able to use this Ellie, that draw is quite heavy."

"Pssh old man, let me show you how it's done."

Joel handed over the bow expecting Ellie to struggle but she pulled the string back with apparent ease.

Harry just shrugged and said "magic."

"Well if we are going to make some arrows, we will need some decent wood, once the rain stops, we will go and look for some, how about that?"

"Thanks Joel," Ellie said with a beaming smile.

Harry was watching their interactions carefully, Joel seemed more open with Ellie but now and again when he was looking at her Harry saw a glimpse of pain in his eyes. He hoped that Joel would open up to them of course Ellie said he was quite chilled out compared to when they first met.

It was approaching lunch time and the rain showed signs of stopping. After a quick lunch Harry and Joel were amused at Ellie, she had been bouncing in her seat practically the whole time.

"Can we go now?"

"Yeah okay, we better before you explode," Joel said while shouldering his backpack and weapons. "Will the tent be okay here Harry?"

"Yeah I'll put up a quick ward when we leave, it will keep any infected away as well, you two will be okay if you touch me when we get back."

"I'm sure Ellie won't mind," Joel said lowly but Ellie and Harry both heard it and blushed wildly.

Joel shook his head, those two were so obvious he thought, he could understand it, at that age girls were practically all he thought about, hence why he had Sarah so young. Damn, it seemed every day it was getting harder to repress all those feelings he thought he had pushed down forever decades ago. He had tried to distance himself from Ellie, but she was such a fun kid and her personality was powerful and hard to ignore. He regretted the way he had treat her at the start of the journey, but he was thankful Harry joined them. He was determined to get Ellie to the Fireflies for Tess, he had promised her, and this was one promise he intended to keep.

After about forty minutes Joel seemed to find a tree that he found suitable.

"This here's a Norway Pine, good for hunting big game, I guess it will suit our purpose."

Harry lopped off the top of the tree with an overpowered cutter before removing a large chunk which he levitated to the ground before shrinking, picking it up he handed the thimble sized chunk of wood to Ellie.

"Awesome!" she exclaimed, "come on, let's go make some arrows."

The rest of the afternoon found Harry shaping shafts according to Joel's specifications then conjuring what Joel called fletchings. Harry carved in the unbreakable rune into them so Ellie could re-use the arrows.

"I want to practice, can I please?" Ellie gave Joel and Harry the puppy dog eyes.

Joel shrugged, Harry groaned, "Just give me ten minutes Ellie, casting magic like that really wears me out."

Ellie's face dropped, "oh okay then."

"Hey," Ellie looked up, "ten minutes okay, I promise."

Ellie smiled, she was so used to people brushing her off with promises of later that she automatically took it as a no. Ellie watched Harry, he did look exhausted he was slumped in the chair.

"Harry, how about we just practice tomorrow, you look wiped out."

Harry was tempted to agree but he didn't want to disappoint Ellie, he knew she was really looking forward to trying the bow.

"I'm not an old man yet, I'll recover quickly," Harry said with a wink.

Joel snorted before entering the bathroom, soon the sounds of running water could be heard.

"Hey Ellie, how was Joel when I was away?"

"He was fine, why are you asking?"

"Just curious, you ever noticed that sometimes when he's talking to you, he will pause and get a sad look in his eyes for a moment?" Harry said in a low voice so that Joel couldn't overhear.

"Oh yeah, I have noticed that. I figured he must have lost somebody close. I must remind him of whoever it was some way," she said glancing at he bathroom door with a sad face.

Harry noticed the depressed look on Ellie's face, obviously she had her own demons to deal with.

"Sorry."

"What for," Ellie asked meeting his eyes.

"I didn't mean to drag up painful memories. Come on, let's go test your arrows."

Harry was right, Ellie was a natural, he had conjured up a crude target on the side of the shack, out of five arrows she had hit three bulls and two just outside of it. After testing each arrow twice Ellie turned to Harry with a beaming smile. "Thanks Harry, you're awesome for giving me this. I owe you."

"Oh really, and what can you offer me," Harry asked with a smirk. He didn't know what Ellie was thinking about before her face flamed red and she mumbled some excuse and rapidly entered the tent.

Harry stood there bewildered for a few minutes going over in his mind what he had said. He would never understand girls. Entering the tent, Joel was pottering around the kitchen area while Ellie sat on couch reading some comic, she glanced up when Harry entered, gave him a brief smile before burying her head back in the comic. He mentally shrugged, well she didn't seem upset with him at least.

"So, Joel, have you planned out what route we are taking to get to Jackson?"

"Yeah, we need to find another vehicle, I cannot see how we can do it on foot, unless you want to spend the next year walking," Joel replied studying the map.

"So how far are we talking?"

"To get to Jackson itself, I'm thinking maybe fifteen hundred miles gives or take."

"Damn, that's quite a distance. You're right, we need a car or some form of transport."

Ellie looked up from her comic, "I wish we had some horses, that would be awesome."

"I doubt I could conjure them, I could do maybe one, but it wouldn't last more than an hour and it's really power intensive to conjure that much mass." Harry shrugged.

"Well I know we've got Harry back but the more distance we put between ourselves and Pittsburgh the better to my way of thinking," Joel answered.

The rest of the day and evening they decided to just relax and get an early start in the morning as long as the weather cooperated. Harry and Ellie spent hours playing Poker, Harry had transfigured rice into casino chips. The majority of which were now piled up by Ellie. She sat with a straight face looking at Harry closely, she glanced down at the cards in her hand before returning her gaze to Harry. "I fold, I know you've got a good hand."

"Damn, how do you always know?"

"Well I'm not going to tell you that am I, after all I still have more chips to win," Ellie said while dealing a new round of cards.

"You never told me you were a card shark!"

"Well I had to have some way to pay for my chocolate addiction in military school," she smirked back at him.

Harry looked closely at Ellie, he didn't know how she did it but when playing cards her expression never changed no matter what hand she had. He may as well just go for bust. "I'm going all in," He said before pushing his remaining chips into the centre of the table.

Ellie raised an eyebrow before smirking, Harry had tuned over his cards revealing two pair. "Royal flush, victory is mine," she said pumping the air in victory.

"Well congrats, you totally trashed me," Harry said in defeat although he wasn't disappointed. He had enjoyed just chilling out with Ellie, even Joel had joined them for a few hands before surprisingly settling into the couch with a well-worn paperback.

Harry reached into his pocket before sliding a box across the table to Ellie.

Ellie looked at the chocolate frog before a beaming smile graced her face, she jumped up went around to Harry, gathering her courage she kissed him on the cheek, "thanks Harry, you're awesome!"

Harry smiled although his face felt uncomfortably hot.

"Well at least as long as you keep feeding me chocolate," she smirked.

Harry woke up early the next morning, he felt refreshed, but he had woken up several times during the night after having strange dreams. He tried to remember what they were about but the more he concentrated the more the memories eluded him, he did know that they contained Ellie though, of that he was sure.

After a quick breakfast the tent was packed up and they were on their way. They walked in a comfortable silence for the first hour of so, only broken with the occasional hummed tune from Ellie, she was still trying to learn how to whistle but continued to just blow air when she tried. Harry thought she was cute as anything when she tried but kept that thought to himself.

Mid-morning, they decided to stop for an early lunch. Ellie had spotted and shot a rabbit earlier, they had enough vegetables to make a stew. Harry started a fire while Joel prepared the rabbit, something Harry wasn't keen to do but he knew he would have to learn how. It's not like he could visit the local shop for supplies.

Ellie prepared the vegetables, they didn't have much but it would still make a filling meal. Before long a tempting aroma came from the stew. The day had been chilly, but the stew warmed them right up and after a round of hot drinks they all sat around the fire with a contented look on their faces.

"I reckon we give it thirty minutes then get back on the road, there's a small town on the map we can easily reach by late afternoon. Might be worth a look, a lot of these smaller places were just abandoned or overlooked."

"Sounds good to me," Harry nodded.

"Yeah, more walking," Ellie replied but she didn't seem unhappy about it.

Harry told Ellie about Hagrid and his famous rock cakes which could break your teeth. Even Joel told a funny story about a job he did before the outbreak. Before long they were back on the road, as with elsewhere there were stretches which were totally clear before they would come to a turn off and there would be cars either burnt out or strewn across the road. Joel checked out the ones which seemed in a half decent condition but they either didn't have keys or the ones which did were dead. Ellie found a couple of hunting knives under the driver's seat in an old sedan, she handed them to Joel, she had her switchblade.

Joel looked over the knives, testing their blades, they were both in good condition, slipping one into his waist band he tossed the other to Harry.

Harry shrugged, he had his wands, but he guessed it couldn't hurt to have a backup weapon. Looking over Ellie was peering into the distance, she didn't seem to find anything as she started playing with her knife.

The afternoon passed slowly, the sun was still shining but it was still chilly. Harry was looking forward to stopping. He still wasn't used to spending all day walking. He was glad his clothing and shoes were charmed to be every comfortable. In the distance he could see what appeared to be a church spire, he reckoned they would be within the outskirts within an hour.

"Hold up here," Joel gestured to Harry and Ellie.

"What's up?" Harry asked.

"What do you want to do? Should we scout the area or just find somewhere for the night?"

"Ellie, what do you think?" Harry asked Ellie.

"I am pretty tired and cold," she shrugged her shoulders.

"How about we just find somewhere and then we can get an early start again tomorrow," Harry said while looking around. Most of the buildings seemed to be intact. There were no signs of infected or even that the place had been touched. None of the buildings were boarded up, they all as far as he could tell had unbroken windows and their doors were locked up. Looking up at the sign Harry smiled. He guessed Ellie would love this place.

"Hey Ellie, look at this," Harry gestured to the sign.

"You have to be fucking kidding me, no way! Come on, let's get inside."

Joel wandered over to see what got Ellie excited. "Parkers Book Emporium, yep that will do it," Joel said with a smile.

Harry performed an _alohomora_ and pushed the door open, he knew it was stupid, but he half expected an alarm to start sounding. Entering the door, the air smelt musty but there wasn't any of the unpleasant smell he had come to associate with the infected. "Hang on a second," Harry performed a revealing spell. It came back clear.

"Okay, all yours Ellie."

Ellie smiled before dashing off into the aisles, it wasn't the biggest store but there must have been a couple of thousand books easily. Harry spied something and wandered over. Ellie was going to love this, there was a whole section devoted to various comics, none he had never heard of apart from Savage Starlight which he remembered Ellie reading. Looking around Ellie was sat on the floor cross legged with a pile of books behind her. Joel was perusing a shelf nearby. Crossing over he asked, "find anything useful?"

"As a matter of fact, yeah, I did, I've got a manual on basic car maintenance, I remember the basics but could be helpful down the road if we need to get another vehicle running and I also got a couple of survivalist books. Got a lot of info on tracking various animals, repairing gear and other useful info. Can't hurt to give them a read."

"Sounds good, I'll have a wander, see if anything else will be useful." Harry wandered down the aisles, apart from a thick layer of dust, the books were in good condition. He got to where Ellie was sitting, "found anything good Ellie?"

Ellie looked up with a beaming smile, "Harry this is so awesome, will you shrink these books for me please so I can take them?"

Yeah sure, Harry shrunk the pile before handing them to her, she jumped to her feet and wrapped her arms around him. He stiffened at first before relaxing into the hug.

"Thanks Harry, just wait, I have so many new puns for you!"

"Oh, I cannot wait," Harry said while hugging her tightly, he was reluctant to let her go but eventually did, she gave him a shy smile before sitting back down.

"Hey Joel, I'm going to check out next door, you okay here?"

"Yeah Harry, give a shout if you find anything interesting," Joel said looking up from the book he was engrossed in.

The sign next door was faded but it appeared to be a former café, looking though the dirty windows it looked like booths ringed a central aisle.

Performing an opening spell Harry opened the door, he gave it a minute to let some of the stale air to escape. Stepping inside he could smell a faint odour but no signs of infected. There was a layer of dust over everything and nothing seemed to be disturbed. Looking around the central console there was nothing which he thought would be useful. He found a box containing packets of sugar, he emptied the remaining sachets into his backpack. Then he came across something he knew Ellie would like, pulling it out of the cupboard he checked it, it was still sealed so apart from being twenty plus years out of date it was prefect. A whole tub of hot chocolate would keep Ellie happy for months. He checked out the rest of the cupboards, but they only contained bottles of various sources and other things he had no use for. Seeing a door marked staff only at the end he decided to check out the kitchen. He wasn't expecting to find any food but there might be knives and other things they could use.

Clicking on the torch that Joel had given him he surveyed the kitchen, Harry had said he didn't need a torch, but Joel said it made more sense to keep your hands free with the chances of infected surprising you. There were less useful things than Harry thought, he picked up a few more sharp knives for cooking purposes but that was about it. There were a couple of walk-in units at the other side, likely a refrigerator and freezer, he didn't like the idea of checking them, they likely stunk something awful. Walking into what appeared to be a small office area Harry searched the cupboards, lots of stationary supplies, mainly unneeded but he guessed a couple of pens could be useful that is if they still worked.

He was just about to leave the cafe when he spotted a door beside what appeared to be bathrooms. It was unmarked but he decided it could be storage with something useful. Trying the handle the door was locked, a quick unlocking spell later, Harry opened the door, it was quite dark but he could see a set of stairs heading up, turning on his torch he shone it upwards, the stairs seemed in good condition so he headed up, the passage turned at the top of the stairs, there were several doors on each side. Choosing the left he opened the first door, it looked like it may have been a guest room at some time, it had bed and dresser but no personal items. Closing the door, he entered the next one, a small bathroom with nothing useful. The next room must have been a kid's room, there were posters of bands and movie stars on the walls, but he couldn't see anything useful, just the sad remains of somebody's life. Opening the next door, it looked like a sitting area but there were plenty of things to look at.

Suddenly Harry felt something pressed to the side of his head, a menacing voice growled out, "make one fucking move and I'll blow your brains out"

Sorry to leave it on a cliff hanger, nah, I'm not really. Next time the action picks up.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry cursed inwardly; it was stupid not to cast a revealing spell even though the property appeared undisturbed.

"Look, I didn't know this place was occupied, I was just scavenging to see what I could find," Harry said keeping his tone light and hoping they didn't decide he was a threat.

"I think he's okay," another voice spoke up.

"Okay friend, I'm going to trust you but no sudden moves okay," the original speaker said.

Harry slowly dropped his hands before turning around, there was a guy of a similar age to Joel, he was holding a shotgun loosely in his hands while gesturing to a chair further inside.

"Okay, I'm Ben, this here is Henry and his brother Sam."

Harry give them all a nod while replying, "I'm Harry and in the interests of being open, I'm not alone."

An alarmed look appeared on their faces, Harry was quick to try and appease them, "I don't mean that in a bad way, I'm with my friends Joel and Ellie, they're next door in the bookstore, I just wanted you to know in case they came looking for me, I didn't want anybody getting the wrong idea, that's all."

They guy Ben had called Henry spoke up, "sorry we're a bit jumpy, there was a lot more of us, we were ambushed a while back and every so often the fuckers drive through here in an armoured truck."

"Shit, I have to warn my friends if there's a threat in the area," Harry said standing up, "why don't you come and meet them?"

They all glanced at each other before seeming to agree.

"How did you get in anyway, the front was locked up and we never found a key and the back is bolted from the inside," Ben asked.

"Err I picked the lock," Harry replied, "I can lock it back up for you if you want."

"We aren't planning to stay much longer," Henry replied," getting back on the road tomorrow, we want to be as far away from those Pittsburgh fuckers as possible."

"Shit, we had some trouble in Pittsburgh as well, my friend tripped a nail bomb and we had to get out fast."

"You were lucky then," Ben said with a sombre look," we lost a lot of good people to those animals."

"Hey guys," Harry called out to Ellie and Joel," I've got some people with me, they're okay."

Joel peered around the side of the shelf he was still browsing, and Harry could hear Ellie getting to her feet.

"Introductions, this is Ben, Henry and Sam, they were part of a larger group, they got ambushed in Pittsburgh."

Joel's eyebrows rose at this.

"Guys this is Joel and Ellie. We've been travelling together for a while."

"Ellie you got a minute," Harry gestured. She gave him a quizzical look but came other.

"What do you think of them?"

Ellie pondered for a minute before replying, "I think they're okay. They aren't giving off any bad vibes."

"Yeah I feel the same, we should still keep the magic thing under wraps though okay."

"Yeah sure," she smiled at him, "I have books to keep me occupied anyway."

"Ouch, I've been replaced by books," Harry laughed.

They re-joined the rest of the guys, Harry new that Joel would be tight lipped and wouldn't reveal anything.

They all grabbed a seat while Sam gravitated towards Ellie and before long they were happily chatting away.

"So, what's your guys plans now?" Joel asked.

"Just to get as far away from here as possible, we had a meet up spot at an old military radio tower, none of our group showed up though, I'm assuming none of the rest made it," Ben replied with a frown.

"We were thinking of seeking out the Fireflies," Henry said.

"They're not going to be easy to find without a contact in a QZ," Joel replied.

"Yeah no doubt, but unless we can find another community it's our best bet," Henry shrugged.

"Why not head to a QZ? Apply for residency," Joel questioned.

"We were in one down at Hartford, it seems like they're all falling apart. What about you? Why aren't you in one?" Ben answered.

"From Boston, the QZ there is still going strong as far as I know, you know you could do worse than head there plus the Fireflies are definitely in the area."

"So, if you're from a QZ why are you out here?" Henry asked.

"I'm heading out West to find my brother, I promised somebody I would take care of Ellie and Harry joined us a while back."

Ben stood up, "well it was nice meeting you folks but we're going to head back, not safe to be out when it's dark and I would keep any lights hiding, those scumbags sometimes patrol around here."

"Thanks for the heads up," Joel nodded.

"Here I'll relock that door for you," Harry said.

"Hey Sam, time to head back bud." Henry called.

Harry went back with them to the café, he bid them goodnight and said he would see them in the morning before they headed off before relocking the door. Heading back to the bookstore he closed the outer door before casting a mild repelling charm.

"Hey guys, we should head upstairs and find someplace to put up the tent out of view, just to be safe," Harry gestured to the back stairwell.

Once again Harrys sleep was disturbed with strange dreams which left him disorientated when he awoke.

"Harry get up now, something happening outside," Joel's voice called out urgently.

Quickly shoving on some clothes, he exited the tent joining Joel at the window, there was a Humvee in the middle of the road and several armed men standing around. Ellie joined them shortly after.

"Shit, we have to do something, we cannot let those assholes hurt those guys." Ellie said urgently.

"How do you want to handle it Joel?"

"You reckon you can make us invisible like you did before, me and you will try and take them out silently."

"What about me?" Ellie asked.

Joel looked at her silently for a moment, "How good do you reckon you are with that bow of yours?"

"I can easily hit anything man size from this distance." Ellie replied confidently.

"Harry can you make her invisible as well just in case, if we can open this window here she will have a clear line of site and can cover us," turning to Ellie, "you reckon you can handle that Ellie, if it looks like we've been discovered you think you can cause enough havoc."

"Pssh," Ellie grinned," I can cause havoc in my sleep."

"That I believe," Joel replied with a straight face, but Harry could detect a tone of humour in his speech.

Harry disillusioned them all before using his wand to vanish the boards on the window and casting a notice me not.

"Okay Harry, let's go," Joel gestured while pulling his new hunting knife out from its sheath.

Harry turned back to Ellie, "stay safe okay." She nodded in reply giving him a smile.

Joel and Harry quickly made there way downstairs, turning to Joel he said in a low voice, "I cast a mild repelling charm on the door last night, keep a hold of my arm when we leave, they shouldn't notice anything."

Joel grasped his forearm and Harry slowly opened the door, he could see three men in front of him, he slowly made his way to the man closest when a commotion to his left caught his eye.

Three more men exited from the café each holding on to somebody. They looked unhurt apart from Henry who had a gash above his eye, himself and Ben looked defiant while Sam looked scared.

The men forced them to their knees in a line before the one who must be the leader spoke up.

"We know there's more of you, our lookout spotted you with somebody else yesterday, a kid with dark hair. How many are there and where are they?"

They all remained quiet.

The leader pulled out a wicked looking blade from a sheath on his leg, "guess I'll have to persuade you," he said with a grin.

"Shit," Harry whispered to Joel, "get ready to move."

Pulling out the Elder wand Harry pointed it at the leader, _imperio _he intoned, the leader stopped moving for a moment before resuming walking towards Henry. He stopped in front of him before lunging forward and burying the knife up to the hilt of the man behind Henry, with a shocked look he slowly sank to the floor with a gurgling sound.

The other men all froze in shock for a moment before raising their weapons at the leader who was staring at his hands in disbelief as if he couldn't quite understand what had happened.

"What the fuck man? Why would you do that," one of the men shouted while levelling a shotgun towards him.

"I don't know what happened," the leader replied, his confident tone from earlier replaced by confusion.

During this time Harry had lit his wand giving Ellie the okay to proceed. Himself and Joel stealthily approached the closest targets who all had their attention on the leader. Harry grit his teeth, he had never used a weapon like this up close before, but these people were evil and deserved no mercy, they terrorised others for their sick purposes. Grabbing the guy around the neck Harry stabbed the knife into his lower back, he felt nauseous but fought to keep it down. By the time he stood back up he could see Joel moving towards the Humvee.

Two more men fell in a matter of seconds from arrows embedded in their heads, Ellie wasn't taken any chances with them.

Even though it felt like minutes had passed, in reality this all took around twenty seconds. Henry, Ben and Sam who were facing this direction all had confused looks on their faces along with growing hope they would get out of this.

A whump sounded behind him followed by a wave of heat, looking around flames and screams spewed forth from the Humvee. This got the attention of the final men away from the leader, the other four guys were all dead on the ground and their vehicle was in flames, they rose their weapons higher scanning the area but Harry and Joel were invisible to them and weren't the threat at the moment. Concentrating on the mental thread that connected him to the leader he ordered him to shot his men, he tried to resist but with the power of the Elder Wand and Harry against him it was futile.

Two shots later the leader collapsed onto the ground. Harry dispelled the disillusionment on himself and Joel.

Ben was the first to speak up, "what the hell are you people," he asked in a fearful tone while glancing around at the death and destruction before returning his gaze to Harry and Joel. Ellie exited the bookstore with an arrow still notched in her bow at the ready and joined her friends.

It was Harry who spoke up, "well Joel is a Texan, explains some of his weirdness, Ellie is just Ellie, she's one of a kind and I'm a wizard." He finished with a smile.

Sam was holding onto Henry as if he would disappear and Henry just looked stunned, "but none of that is real, magic and stuff, it's just fantasy."

"Well that fantasy just rescued you and your friends," Joel replied," look I had a hard time believing it in the beginning, but I can tell you without a doubt, I've seen Harry do impossible things. I mean we were just invisible a moment ago, even the military doesn't have technology like that."

Harry slowly approached Sam and Henry, pointing at the cut above his eye he said, "I can fix that for you if you would like."

Henry nodded apprehensively as Harry pointed the wand at his head, a cooling blue light settled over his skin before seeming to sink in, leaving his skin unblemished and cut free.

Henry reached up rubbing the spot where he knew the cut was minutes ago, nothing. "That's amazing," he finally said.

"Sorry, we owe you our lives, I didn't want to appear ungrateful, just a bit of a shock you know."

"Ellie do me a favour, go and take Sam and make him some hot chocolate will you, I think he's in a bit of shock, the hot drink will help."

Ellie took Sam by the hand and give him a smile while helping him up, he had a dazed expression on his face, Henry looked at him worriedly.

"Don't worry he's in good hands," Harry said, "she has had some medical training as well from when she was in a military boarding school, so she knows what to look for."

Henry seemed to relax a bit at this knowledge, letting out a breath.

"Sorry I didn't tell you guys yesterday but it's not knowledge I like to share."

Ben still looked a bit wary but nodded in understanding, "I guess I can understand that, I'm still a bit shocked and not afraid to admit a bit frightened. I've never seen something like what you can do in all my life, like Henry said, I thought it was all fantasy made up by novelists and TV folks."

Harry sighed, "I'm not originally from this world, as far as I can tell humans with magic haven't existed for a long time here although there are magical creatures around. I was alone when I arrived here, Joel and Ellie were good enough to help me along and explain things."

Joel laughed, "I personally think it was the other way around. Harry has been a huge help; more so than we have been to him I think."

Harry shrugged, "we need to question the leader, see if any more of them are in the area, best we get back insides in case more are about after all we didn't even see that scout, he mentioned yesterday."

They all agreed, heading inside the bookstore, Harry turned at the doorway, pointing his wand at the leader, he floated inside, waving his wand again he disappeared the remains of the Humvee before doing the same to the bodies. Sighing to himself he locked the doors before trudging up the stairs, he knew taking their lives had been necessary, but he still hated doing it.

Henry and Ben were looking around the tent in amazement, both popped their head out of the flap on more than one occasion to double check they were in fact in a two man tent. Sam seemed to be in a much better mood, he was chatting animatedly to Ellie on the couch. The men settled around the dining table, Harry making coffee for them all.

Ben and Henry both inhaled deeply at the enticing coffee smell.

"Now I know you're magical," Ben laughed, "I haven't smelt coffee this good since before the outbreak."

"That's why I keep him around," Joel said while taking a deep drink of his coffee.

"Is that Joel making a joke, I think I misheard," Ellie called from the couch.

"Who said I was joking!"

"Oi," Harry said. "I was thinking you should do the questioning Joel."

Joel quirked an eyebrow, "any particular reason?"

"Well you've got that whole silent menacing look down pat, I think he'll feel more threatened by you. I can put a compulsion on him to tell the truth, but a person can still find ways around it."

Joel nodded in agreement, "come on then Harry, come wake him up."

Later that evening they were all sharing a meal together, Ellie and Joel had gone out hunting, Joel had managed to track some wild boar and Ellie had took one down with ease.

After Joel had disposed of the leader after questioning, they all had no regrets at killing those men, Joel had learned how despicable they were, killing people for fun, torture, rape and other despicable acts even towards children.

Harry was sickened, they reminded him of the Death Eaters and the atrocities they committed, he made an oath to himself, he would kill anybody he came across who threatened Ellie in that way and damn his soul.

Ellie noticed his change in demeanour and went and sat beside him on the couch after they had finished eating.

"Hey, you okay," she nudged his arm.

Harry looked up at the concerned look on her face.

"I could use a hug to be honest," Harry replied.

Ellie quickly snuggled into his side and wrapped an arm around him, Harry pulled her closer immediately feeling better.

"You want to talk about it?" she asked.

Harry was silent for a minute, "You remember me telling you about the war I was involved in, the Death Eaters were despicable, they didn't even see non magicals as sentient beings. Hearing what those men got up to reminded me of them … just the thought of anybody treating you like that got me so mad, I would kill them all before I let that happen." Harry finished in a near whisper, but Ellie heard every word.

She hugged him tighter, "that's not going to happen Harry, not with you as my protector plus I will kick anybody's ass who hurts you!"

"Ellie can I ask you something?"

"You just did duh," she sniggered.

"Ha, very funny. So, I mean, that's I was wondering, have you ever like had a boyfriend?"

Ellie stopped rubbing her hand up and down Harrys side and seemed to freeze, several moments passed and it seemed like she wasn't going to reply.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked, it's none of my business." Harry said.

"No, it's okay, it's just that, err this is embarrassing."

"You don't have to tell me."

"No, I've never had a boyfriend, in fact I had a crush on a girl."

"Oh, right, forget I said anything."

"Why were you asking," Ellie craned her neck to look into his face.

Harrys face reddened. "Oh nothing, I was just curious is all."

Ellie didn't look convinced but put her head back down.

"So, have you ever had a girlfriend or boyfriend?"

"Well, I had one serious girlfriend for a while but they when the war was at its height, we separated to protect her and when the war was over our feelings had changed."

"Oh, that's sad. What was she like?"

"She was brave, intelligent and beautiful," Harry paused, "you remind me of her a lot."

Ellie was glad Harry couldn't see her face as she was sure it was bright red. She had thought for a while that Harry was interested in her as maybe more than friends and when he asked her about boyfriends, she thought he was going to ask her to be his, now she was confused. He did give her a compliment though saying she reminded him of his beautiful brave ex-girlfriend. Maybe he thought she didn't like boys since she said she had a crush on a girl.

She was thinking of a way to bring the topic up again when Harry yawned before saying," I'm really tired, been a long day and I used some high-level magic." He pulled Ellie in closer before placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head, "thanks Ellie."

"What for?"

"Being here when I needed somebody, you're a great friend."

Ellie looked up before stretching and kissing him on the cheek," so are you Harry."

Joel was watching their interaction curiously from the dining table, he couldn't quite figure them out, they had gotten close rather quickly and sometimes they acted like a couple, but he was sure if they were then they would have mentioned it. He trusted Harry with her, so he just let them be, it wasn't really his place to interfere. He had tried to keep his distance from Ellie, but it was harder than it seemed, she had wormed a place into his heart already and he was feeling things he had never felt in years.

The next morning, they all gathered around the dining table, everybody was in good spirits after a good night's rest.

"So, have you decided what you are going to do?" Harry asked Ben

"We're thinking of taking Joel's advice and heading towards Boston QZ" Henry replied. "It's got to be safer in there than out on the road."

"If that's the case, I can help you get there faster," Harry said," in fact you can be around twenty miles or so from Boston in a matter of minutes."

Ben, Henry and Sam all look astonished, "you for real?" Henry asked.

"Those last twenty miles are dangerous though," Joel said, a sad look coming over his face, "we lost a friend on the way here in that area. Do you have papers?"

"Yes, we do," Ben replied.

"There are regular patrols around those areas, if you can get their attention and show papers, they could transport you to the zone for processing."

After a brief discussion among themselves Ben spoke up," we would be highly appreciative if you could do that for us Harry."

Joel advised them not to linger in Lincoln and which direction to head in, the areas to avoid and their best chances to find the military patrols.

Picking up an empty bottle, Harry pointed his wand at it, _portus_ he intoned while picturing the high street of Lincoln.

"It will leave in around a minute, you all need to be touching it, keep holding on until you arrive, you'll probably be a bit dizzy, but it will pass quickly."

After goodbyes they disappeared in a whirl of colour.

"Well that was interesting," Ellie chirped up.

"Yeah nice to meet somewhat normal folks for a change," Joel agreed.

"I hope they get there safely," said Harry.

"You've increased their chances a lot Harry, don't think you haven't and with the information I gave them they should be able to get into Boston."

"Yeah you're right, I just wish I could have done more for them."

"Maybe after all this is done, we can find them again."

"Yeah maybe." Harry shrugged, "well I know Ellie has enough books to last until she's a hundred, you all set Joel?"

"Yeah, got what I need, everything else is packed up."

"Hey, I didn't get that many books," Ellie pouted.

"Yeah sure Ellie," Harry laughed.

The next few weeks passed in a blur; Joel reckoned they would hit Illinois sometime tomorrow. They had got into a comfortable routine, Joel and Ellie regularly went hunting, Joel had learnt new techniques for tracking and setting snares while Ellie rarely missed anything which strayed into her path. The Infected were fear and far between and easily dealt with. Harry was growing proficient at _incendios_ and could cast them with merely a thought, they stopped any infected in their tracks. The weather had favoured them recently, the days were mostly overcast but still warm. The charms Harry had cast on their clothing kept them at a nice temperature. Each night they would stop, and Harry would set up the protections, they no longer bothered looking for a building to setup in, Harry was confident that between the ward stones and the other protections they were safe.

They had taken to building an outdoor fire even though Harry could use the magical appliances, it was nice to sit around the fire basking in its warmth while cooking the latest catch from Ellie. Joel had started opening up to them more, often telling stories of before the outbreak, he still clammed up on occasion when he seemed to be going to mention somebody else or made a reference to a movie or song.

Harry regaled them with stories from the magical world, one of Ellies favourites was of their escape from Gringotts and flying on a dragon. Even Ellie started sharing stories of some of the mischief her and her best friend Riley used to get up to.

They had finished dinner one night and everybody was sitting contentedly around the fire, Joel was whittling a figure out of a bit of timber he had found. Ellie was reading one of her books engrossed in whatever story was being told.

Harry stared out at the darkening sky, the sun was low over the horizon and would set within the next thirty minutes or so. He stood up stretching before saying, "I'm going for a walk, I won't be long" checking his wands and knife were in place.

Joel stopped what he was doing and looked up at him, "Everything okay Harry?"

"Yeah, everything's fine, I just feel like a walk."

"Do you want some company?" Ellie asked.

"Nah, finish your book, I will be fine."

Harry made has way beyond the protections disappearing from view.

"Hey Ellie, you noticed anything off about Harry today?"

"I thought he seemed a bit quieter than normal but some days he's just like that, I've asked him before, but he always just says it's nothing."

"Well if he's not telling you what's bothering him, he definitely won't tell me. You two are practically joined at the hip."

"Well he's my friend," Ellie said burying her head back into her book.

"Friend. Sure," Joel said with an amused grin.

"Oh, shut up you," Ellie glared at him which just seemed to amuse Joel more.

Harry came to a fence which was still mostly intact, sitting on the top of it he stared off into the distance, he couldn't help feeling a bit down today, it was, would be, is Hermione's birthday as far as he reckoned if he kept accurate track of the days. Sighing, he reached around his neck, removing his moleskin pouch. He had put the resurrection stone in here for safe keeping, taking it out now he closed his eyes before turning it over three times, opening his eyes nothing appeared to have changed, before a huge dog, not quite solid in appearance bounded up to him before morphing into the figure of Sirius Black.

"Harry," Sirius grinned, "you miss your old dogfather so soon!"

Harry couldn't help but grin in reply, "yeah for some strange reason I miss you."

Sirius looked around, "where the hell are we anyway?"

"What you don't know? Do you just like a dog to when whistled at?" Harry laughed.

"Yeah something like that."

"I'm in the United States or what's left of it anyway."

"What's that mean Harry?" Sirius enquired.

"Well I'm not exactly in the right universe anymore," Harry gestured around, "in fact this one has been overrun by a fungus which turns people into ravenous lunatics who want to eat you."

Sirius looked at Harry before laughing, "yeah nice one Harry, you could do better than Inferi though."

"I'm not joking Sirius, and they aren't exactly dead, they just aren't the person they were anymore."

"Wow, so how did you get here then? Can you not get help from the Ministry to try and find your way home."

"Well there in lies the problem, there's no Ministry, never was, something happened in this universe and magic didn't spread throughout humans like in ours, there are Centaurs and other magical creatures but none of the large ones like Dragons and seemly there were humans with magic a long time ago."

"Well shit, are you here by yourself then?"

"Yep, landed in this world without a clue, I've made some friends since, Joel and Ellie."

"So, is she cute?" Sirius asked.

"What, what do you mean," Harry asked blushing.

"Oh come on Harry you cannot hide it from me, you like her don't you."

Harry sighed, he may as well tell him otherwise Sirius would just pester him for the time he was here.

"Yes okay, I like her, there satisfied."

"Come on Harry, I want details, what's she like?"

"I dunno, she's really brave and intelligent" Harry mumbled in reply.

"Well that sounds like your type. Please tell me she's a redhead!"

Harry looked at him in surprise, "How did you know?"

Sirius winked at him, "It's what James called the Potter curse, for generations all Potter men have been attracted to redheads."

"Oh right, so it's a magical thing why I feel like this?" Harry said dejectedly.

"Harry you can be right dense sometimes, magic doesn't make you fall for somebody, I'm sure you've known other redheads, like Ginny, if it was magic you would have stayed together."

"Yeah I suppose you're right, there was Susan Bones as well, she was really nice, but I didn't feel attracted to her."

"Okay back to this Ellie, so is she pretty then?" Sirius said with a twinkle in his eye.

Harry blushed, "Sirius she's so, I mean she's so beautiful and she doesn't even know it, but I don't even know if she likes me like that, I asked about boyfriends and she said she had a crush on a girl."

"That means nothing Harry."

"It doesn't," Harry asked with a hopeful look.

"She's a teenager, right?" at Harry's nod Sirius continued," at that age it's quite common to be attracted to people of either sex, especially if they're a good friend. But the only way you will know for sure is to ask her."

"But what if she doesn't like me like that, I don't want to spoil our friendship, she's one of the only friends I have now."

"Harry, if she's your friend then I have no doubt that you are important to her and she wouldn't let something like this affect your friendship, she sounds like a wonderful girl. If you don't ask her you could be missing out on something amazing. Don't make my mistakes Harry."

At Harry's questioning look Sirius explained, "when I was at school I used to mess around with lots of different girls, I always thought there would be plenty of time to meet the love of my life and settle down, have kids the whole thing. You know how that turned out. Don't take things for granted Harry, grasp happiness with both hands."

"Thanks Sirius, you always know what to say." Harry smiled.

"That's what Godparents are for Harry, I just wish I was in your life more when I was alive."

"At least I can still talk to you, but I know it's uncomfortable to be pulled here so I will let you go."

"A bit of discomfort is worth it to see you Harry, don't waste time, tell her how you feel."

Harry opened his hand and slipped the stone back into his pouch, Sirius fading from view, the sky had darkened, he decided he better return before they got worried.

By the time he returned to the tent the night had fully fallen. The fire was burning low and Joel must have entered the tent. Ellie was sitting on a log by the fire. Harry approached and sat down beside her.

"Hey Ellie."

"Hey, you okay."

"Yeah, sorry, just one of those days."

"Do you want to talk about it," she asked while holding his gaze.

Harry don't know why he did it but when he looked at her face his eyes dropped down to her lips, he leaned in and softly kissed her, she looked surprised at first before returning the kiss, Harry wrapped his arms around her resting his head on her shoulder.

"Wow," she whispered.

Harry stammered, "Sorry, I shouldn't have just done that."

"Wow," Ellie giggled.

Looking up this time Ellie kissed him.

"Wow," Harry said this time with a smile.

"Look Ellie, I tried to ask you this a few weeks back but made a mess of it, I really like you ,I mean a lot, more than friends and I was wondering if you felt the same, if you don't that's totally okay, I get it," Harry kept rambling on so Ellie kissed him again.

"Yes, I feel the same Harry," Ellie smiled at him watching as his face broke into a beaming smile.

Harry said a silent thank you to Sirius for pushing him to act while tightening his grip on Ellie, for now everything was right in his world, for the first time since he appeared here he felt totally at ease and content.


	6. Chapter 6

"Ah Harry, fuck you!" Ellie exclaimed while wiping water from her face. She was a sodden mess. Harry for his part was trying and failing to hide his laughter. Ever since they had become a couple Ellie had been more mischievous.

Harry thought back to two mornings ago when he went to put his shoes on and found them packed full of sludge or yesterday when she threw a glass full of water on him when he refused to get up to make her breakfast after he promised the night before.

He had retaliated to that with a quick _rictumsempra_ which had her rolling on the floor screaming, so much so that Joel burst into the room wearing just a towel and wielding a revolver. He quickly shook his head and with a muttered "damn kids," returned to the shower.

Harry made it up to Ellie by conjuring her an orchid then making her pancakes for breakfast, he had to used dried ingredients, but she said it was great. Joel was happy with toast and coffee.

"So, come out with it then," Joel said causing Ellie and Harry to look up.

"Huh," responded Ellie.

Harry just looked at him quizzically.

Joel gestured between the two of them, "you two, something is different." Ellie blushed at his comment while Harry seemed to be thinking of what to say, taking a sip of his coffee to give him time to think.

Joel tried to hide his smirk, watching them sweat.

"We're a couple," Harry blurted out causing Ellie to look at him with a glare, "wow, you really held up under pressure there Harry."

"Do I need to give you the hurt her and I'll bury you somewhere speech?" Joel asked.

Harry laughed, "nope, loud and clear."

"Good, because there wouldn't be anything left to bury"

"Joel," Ellie exclaimed.

Harry had gone white at this and looked at Ellie worriedly.

Joel couldn't keep it in and barked out a laugh, "seriously your face Harry. You need to relax a bit"

"Damn Harry, Joel played you," Ellie said with a giggle.

Harry let out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding, "you had me going for a while there Joel."

"Hey, I'm not your parents," he seemed to realise something as he said this and his face dropped, he abruptly stood up. "I need some air, I'll be outside."

"Hey Joel, you okay?" Ellie asked

"I'm fine Ellie, you don't need to worry about me." Joel said while exiting the tent.

Harry waited until he was sure that Joel had left and quickly sketched a silencing bubble around himself and Ellie. "What do you reckon that was about?"

"I dunno Harry but I think something horrible happened and he lost somebody important and I'm starting to think it was a kid, maybe his kid," Ellie said sombrely.

Harry stood up and wrapped his arms around Ellie's shoulders while kissing her on top of the head. "I think you're right Ellie. Hopefully he will open up about it, it seems like he still hasn't dealt with it whatever happened.

Returning to the present Harry took pity on Ellie and cast a drying and warming charm on her, "I'm sorry but I couldn't resist, I did owe you for the other day."

"Fuck you, that was a glass, you emptied half the lake on me!"

"Okay, bit of an exaggeration there Ellie, it hardly qualifies as a pond and I only splashed you," Harry smirked at her indignant look.

"Fine," she drawled out, "but you owe me a kiss and a hug for that."

"Oh, so all I have to do to kiss and hug you is just splash you with water"

"Noooooo, don't you dare Harry," although she was laughing while she said it.

Joel was sat on a log and was studying a map; he traced his finger along a route before seeming to come to a decision. Folding the map up he placed it back in his backpack before standing back up stretching, "are you ready? We can follow this road for a few miles then turn off towards a river crossing, hopefully the bridge is still intact."

Harry held out a hand helping Ellie up, she smiled at him shyly, he smiled back before leaning forward and placing a kiss on her forehead.

They kept on the road for a few miles like Joel said, they had a brief encounter with infected, but they were only runners. They looked recently infected by their clothing, so they kept on the alert in case more were hiding in the surrounding trees.

"Alright, this is where we need to turn off," Joel gestured to the roadway. They continued for a bit before they got to where the bridge should be. "Well this could be a problem," Joel said while surveying canyon and the river below, it appeared the bridge had been bombed at some stage as there was only a few supports left.

"Well fuck," Ellie said while sitting down. Harry meanwhile was looking at the supports while seeming to come to a decision. "I think I can get us across," he said.

"How so? Can you even see the other side?" Joel asked, while Ellie looked at Harry curiously. She couldn't even see halfway across and she had good eyes.

"Nope but see those pillars rising up, I could apparate to each one until I can get to the other side, then once I get there apparate back over and bring you two across," Harry said.

"Are you sure about this Harry, we could try further up the river, there's another bridge around five or so miles further up." Joel asked.

"Yeah, I mean, what's the chances of that bridge not being bombed as well, I can do this." He said firmly.

"Harry, please be careful," Ellie said getting up and hugging him, "I'll be really cross if you're not well enough to make breakfast," she said with a smirk.

"Oh, very funny," he said returning the hug with a smile. "it shouldn't take long, maybe around twenty minutes depending on how many jumps I have to make."

Harry moved as close to the edge of the clearing as he could, focusing on the closest pillar he could see he concentrated and disapparated with slight pop.

"He's getting quieter at that," Joel said. Ellie just hummed in response. "Hey Ellie, he'll be fine. Even if he falls, he can transport before hitting the water."

"Oh great, I never thought of him falling and hurting himself." Ellie rolled her eyes.

Ellie and Joel decided to sit down while waiting for Harry, the area was quiet and there was nothing else for them to do.

"You two seem to be getting on well," Joel said towards Ellie. She shrugged in replay before adding "I suppose so."

"Well that didn't sound very enthusiastic," Joel said.

"No, I didn't mean it like that, it's hard to explain," Ellie replied with a sigh, she looked at Joel before seeming to come to a decision. "I'm scared that he'll leave me," she dropped her head.

"Ellie, I haven't known Harry long but one thing I do know he's an honourable sort and from the day he arrived I saw something between you two. I cannot ever see him leaving you voluntarily." Joel relied.

"Yeah, it's the involuntary part I'm worried about. I'm just being stupid I know."

"No, you're not Ellie, in this world you cannot take anything for granted." He paused here before seeming to come to a decision," for a long time I never let anybody close. I thought it was better that way than deal with the pain when you lose them, but I was wrong. Tess was, to be honest I'm not sure what she was. We started off as business partners and then we were something else," sighing he looked at Ellie, "I'm sorry you know."

"What for Joel?" she was unsure of what he was talking about.

"After Tess died, I could of treat you better, I was in a bad place but that ain't no excuse."

"You weren't that bad, and I understand, I know you didn't really blame me plus once you got to Lincoln you weren't so bad, you let me waffle on about Gnomes and Fairies and video games."

"True, how ever did I put up with you," Joel smiled in response.

Suddenly a clicking sound could be heard from behind them, whirling around Joel saw three clickers shambling towards them making erratic movements. "Ellie come here quickly," Joel whispered.

Ellie slowly made her way over to Joel, hoping that she made no noise while warily keeping an eye on the clickers who were moving around unaware of their presence, "what we going to do Joel, there's nowhere to hide."

"I need to take them out and preferably quietly," Joel said surveying the area. He quickly got some materials from his backpack and crafted a crude shiv. Ellie had removed her bow.

"Ellie try and cover me; I'll try and take them out quietly in case there are others in the trees."

She nodded and whispered "yeah." She notched an arrow ready. Joel crept forward watching where he was placing his feet for any loose branches or twigs. The nearest Clicker stumbled closer to him, bracing himself he lunged forward grabbing it around the neck he stabbed it in the carotid, it went down with a shriek. So far so good, he moved forward again, suddenly a crack sounded under his foot, a concealed piece of wood giving way with his weight, the two clickers left whirled around shrieking, their arms cartwheeling as they headed in his direction. So much for stealth, he pulled his revolver from his holster, lining up a shot he fired, the clicker jerked at the last moment and the shot went wide, he relined up and shot again, this time his aim was true and the bullet pierced the clickers head and its body fell to the ground. He swung his arm towards the other clicker but suddenly an arrow pierced its head and it fell silently. Joel looked towards Ellie and nodded. That girls aim was better than his.

"Shit Joel do you hear that?" Ellie asked.

Joel turned towards the trees surrounding them, he could here the crashing of branches, "the shot must have attracted them." He moved back towards Ellie. There wasn't much cover here, he pulled out his weapons making sure they were all loaded. "Ellie cover the trees."

"On it," she said while pulling some more arrows out, lining them out in readiness.

The sounds from the trees grew louder and louder, Joel was worried, that sounded like a lot of them and they had no way to escape this area, quickly he constructed a nail bomb, he pulled his arm back and launched it towards the tree line.

He picked up the 9mm, "here take this Ellie," Joel said holding it out towards her, "just in case. Those arrows of yours are deadly but you might run out."

Ellie took the gun while nodding at Joel, she checked it over as she had been taught, ejecting the clip she checked the rounds before replacing it and checking the safety location, she put it in front of her in easy reach.

"Looks like you've handled a gun before," Joel said while scanning the treeline, the noises were getting louder and louder. "Yeah I was in a military school before, we had to do stupid drills all the time and weapons training."

Joel nodded, "get ready, here they come."

With a resounding boom the nail bomb he had thrown exploded taking out several runners and a clicker as well as a whole bunch of trees. Joel raised his revolver while Ellie raised her bow, pulled back and ready.

More runners and clickers came out of the trees, Ellie and Joel opened fire taking down runner after runner and the occasional clicker.

"Joel there's too many of them," Ellie cried.

Joel switched to his shotgun as the infected had gained distance, he was starting to get worried. There must have been a town close for this many to have appeared so quickly.

A snap appeared behind Ellie causing her to whirl around, Harry whipped out his wand, "get down!" he shouted. Joel and Ellie hit the deck.

"_Arresto Momentum_," Harry shouted while sweeping his wand in front of him, Ellie and Joel looked on in astonishment as the infected slowed down. Taking a deep breath Harry swapped over to the Elder Wand, concentrating he pointed the wand at the central group of infected.

He started incanting under his breath in a language Ellie couldn't understand, she looked at Joel who looked as uncomfortable as she felt. There was a feeling emanating from Harry she couldn't understand and it took a minute to realise she felt dread, intense dread, beads of sweat were appearing on Harrys brow and he seemed to be straining, with a grunt he thrust the wand forward and an intense heat washed over them causing Joel and Ellie to flatten themselves back to the ground, shrieks andunearthly growls could be heard, Ellie risked twisting her head and looking forward, flames unlike anything she had seen before whirled and twisted, appearing to take the shapes of animals and fantastic beats she had only seen in books, everywhere they touched turned to cinder, whether it was infected, trees or rocks, nothing could withstand the intense heat, the flames gathered together and with one sweep a deep swathe of trees were destroyed, the flames rose into the air where they seemed to hang for a moment before swirling and forming a gigantic bird, with a final shriek the flames seemed to fold in on themselves before winking out of existence.

Joel and Ellie both turned to look at Harry who stood there bent over panting drawing in deep breaths before slowly slumping to the ground. Ellie jumped up and ran to him, "Harry! Harry are you okay?" She knelt next to him, he was pale and unresponsive, placing her hand on his cheek he felt clammy.

Joel quickly approached, "Ellie hold his head while I turn him," he said while moving Harry, so he was laid on his back, he quickly held his fingers against his neck while Ellie looked on worryingly. "His pulse is steady and strong; I would say he passed out from exertion."

Ellie nodded, she had Harrys head on her lap, and she was running her fingers through his hair, she reached down and took his glasses off, folding them up she placed them in her pocket. Joel was keeping a wary eye on their surroundings, but it seemed whatever infected had been around that Harry had destroyed them.

Joel looked down at the kid who could wield such power, obviously it had taken its toll on him but if he could do that, what other things was he capable of. Joel rarely felt fear, even death didn't hold the same fears that it did before everything changed but the thing that Harry unleashed, it was like the fires of hell along with the shrieks of the damned, he couldn't help shivering while thinking of it, it wasn't something he never wanted to experience again.

"Hey Ellie, I'm going to go see if I can catch us some lunch, I won't go far. Any problems fire off a shot okay."

"Yeah sure Joel," she replied although her attention was still focused on Harry. Joel checked his hunting rifle was fully loaded although he would prefer to use the bow if possible, to avoid attracting further unwanted attention to them.

Ellie continued to run her fingers through Harrys hair, she hoped it was just like Joel said and he had just overdone it but neither herself nor Joel knew enough about the magic he wielded to say for sure. It took around fifteen minutes before Harry started to stir. With a groan he tried to sit up then relented with a groan, "ugh I feel like I've been run over by a Hypogriff," he grumbled.

"Take it easy Harry, you passed out." Ellie said.

"Oh damn, yeah I think I overdid it a bit, first time I've used that spell and the last if I can help it." He squinted up at Ellie. She handed him his glasses which he slid on and looked at her again, "that's better, I can see your pretty face now," he grinned up at her.

"Yeah, yeah. I know what you're doing," she replied although she couldn't quite hide her smile at his compliment, "what the hell was that Harry, it scared the shit out of me and even though Joel never said so he turned white."

"It's called FiendFyre, it's sentient in a way, once you release it you have to enforce your will on it otherwise it will just destroy everything in sight. I never realised it would be that hard though," this time he did manage to sit up, "where's Joel?"

"He went to see if he could hunt something for lunch." She looked towards the treeline which was a lot further away after Harrys spell. "I don't think he will be much longer, he said he wouldn't go far."

Harry stood up and pulled Ellie to her feet, more as an excuse to give her a cuddle, "thanks for looking after me," he said. Ellie tried to hide the shiver that his breath on her ear caused and replied "yeah no problem. I'm just getting you trained, it would be a pain to break in a new boyfriend."

"Hey!" Harry replied although he was grinning.

Harry spied Joel approaching them with what looked like a couple of rabbits.

"Feeling better Harry?" Joel asked while looking for a suitable patch to start a fire to cook their lunch.

"Yeah much better, here let me," he said removing his wand.

"You sure you should be using magic so soon, it looked like it wiped you out," responded Joel.

"Yeah no worries, I'm almost back to normal" he gestured with his wand the grass in a circle seemed to melt away leaving a circle of smooth ground, another sweep and twigs and branches started flying in from all directions before forming an orderly pile, a final jab and flames started licking at the lower pieces, small tendrils of smoke spiralling into the air.

"That's fucking awesome," Ellie exclaimed while even Joel looked impressed.

"I haven't seen you do that before Harry," Joel gestured to the fire.

"Yeah I've been studying the books I have with me, like I said I missed a lot of schooling and some things have started to click and make it easier to perform magic."

"Is that where you learned that stuff you used earlier?" Joel asked wondering what sort of school would teach children such deadly things like that, but then again, all this magic could be dangerous in the wrong hands.

"No, I was actually shown this by a former auror, err like a detective in the non-magical world, they were specialists at combating dark magic. She and her husband died in the final battle," he said his expression darkening before he noticed Ellies worried look, "I'm fine, sometimes it's almost like I forgot what happened then it just seems to hit me again and takes my breath away."

Joel looked at him in contemplation before nodding and saying, "yeah, you're right there" before turning away and starting on preparing the rabbits.

Harry took a seat by the fire and Ellie sat close to him, she reached out and grabbed his hand, "hey, you ever need to talk, I'm here for you." He gave her a warm smile and gave her hand a gentle squeeze, "thanks Ellie."

They had a pleasant lunch and even Joel was talkative. This was one of Ellies favourite things when Harry and Joel told stories of their respective lives, she had only ever known quarantine zones, and no matter the zone they were all the same. She didn't feel comfortable talking about Riley yet, so she often didn't share any stories.

"So how do you want to do this Harry, should we all go together or is it easier if you take us one by one."

"I think I can manage you both together if you're both ready," Harry said looking between Joel and Ellie. Ellie nodded while Joel responded with a "yep."

They all shouldered their backpacks before Ellie held onto Harrys left hand while Joel settled for holding his right arm. With a pop they were on the other side of the canyon.

"Ugh, I think I'm going to be sick," Ellie said with her hands on here knees, Joel was looking queasy but settled for scouting out their immediate surroundings. The area seemed clear of any infected or other threats, turning back he looked across the canyon, he couldn't even see where they had been. Magic was still something he had difficulty twisting his head around, for forty plus years he had thought it was all made up stories like the types he used to read to Sarah when she was little, at this thought he sighed, he wished once again that he could go back to that night and change what happened but one night while Harry was talking about these things called Time Turners they had talked about time travel and he had explained that it was beyond the power of even the most powerful of magicians and while time turners allowed you to travel into your past, nothing could be changed.

Shaking off his morose thoughts he directed his attention back to Harry and Ellie, she looked like she had recovered enough, and Harry looked fine, "guess it's time to head off again."

They had made good time throughout the afternoon, he had mainly led while Ellie and Harry chatted behind him, it amused him sometimes how curious Ellie was about everything, just like Sarah had been, in some ways Sarah was so mature, probably due to it just being him and her for a long time along with Tommy on some weekends, other times she could act like a typical kid, like when she dragged him along to see that teen movie Dawn of the Wolf, he still saw posters up for it occasionally. For what must have been the millionth time he wished he had done something different that night, they should have gone a different route, or they should have stayed together instead of Tommy hanging behind. Tommy, that was another thing he had regrets about, they hadn't parted on the best of terms and he couldn't blame him really. After Sarah he stopped caring about anything, the only thing which mattered was survival, his time with Ellie and Harry was changing him though, he had thought about Sarah more this last month than he had in twenty odd years.

Harry nudged Ellie in the side, she looked at him curiously and he nodded his head in Joel's direction. Joel had slowed and his shoulders were slumped.

"Everything okay Joel," she called out.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered increasing his pace back to his previous rate.

Harry twirled his wand and Ellie could hear the slight buzz which meant he had put up a privacy spell.

"What do you think that was about he asked?" Harry asked her.

She shrugged her shoulders in reply, "I have no idea, maybe he was just thinking about something depressing."

"Yeah, I suppose so, you think we should ask him to call it for the night? The sun was low on the horizon and the cold was more apparent."

"Yeah, I'll do it," Ellie replied while Harry dropped the privacy spell.

"Oh, come on," Harry exclaimed. Ellie just laughed while sweeping the rest of the chips onto her pile, "boosh I win!"

"Seriously, you sure you don't have cards up your sleeves," he grinned.

"Hey, you're the magician." She laughed in reply.

It had been a nice evening, after a decent meal courtesy of Harry, the three of them had played a few hands of cards before Joel excused himself for a shower, he then settled on the couch with one of the books he had picked up in the bookstore. Harry and Ellie had continued to play cards until Ellie had cleared him out of chips.

Ellie yawned, "well I'm going to take a bath, I'm getting tired."

"Okay, see you soon," Harry stood up taking her hand and kissing the back making her blush in response.

Harry sat down in a chair next to Joel who raised his head and nodded at him.

"You two seem to be getting on well," he said with his head still buried in his book.

"Well she's easy to get along with," Harry responded.

Joel put his book down sighing, "yeah I'm guessing you're right," he paused, seeming to struggle with what he wanted to say next.

"I had a daughter once, a long time ago. She died during the outbreak," Joel said, his face showing pain at what he was saying.

"I'm so sorry Joel," Harry said while wishing Ellie was here for this, she would know better how to respond.

Joel took a deep breath, "when I was stuck with Ellie initially, I didn't treat her very well. I don't mean I hurt her or anything," he added at Harrys look. "she reminded me too much of my daughter and what could have been. I didn't want her around, it hurt too much, for years I have blocked out that night, but I can't seem to do it anymore"

Harry thought for a moment before coming to a decision, "I may be able to help you with that. Wizards have the ability to remove and alter memories."

"No," Joel replied almost instantly.

Harry held up his hands, "I don't mean you wouldn't remember or that I would mess with your memories but what I can do is temporarily take them out of your head and store them, you would still remember but the emotional component wouldn't be there. It's a technique they use to help people who are traumatised by an event."

"You done it before," Joel asked curiously, while he wouldn't want to lose the memories what Harry was saying sounded more like it would be lessening the effects.

"Well no, but I've had it done to me and I was shown how to remove and reinsert the memories."

"How's it done?" Joel asked.

"You basically just concentrate on the memory you want removed, I use my wand and basically pull it out of your head, then we store it in a vial, it can then be returned the same way. It helps people to talk and deal with the trauma without the emotions crippling them."

"I'd like to think about it. If you don't mind, can we keep this between ourselves for the moment. I will tell Ellie, but I need some time."

"Yeah sure Joel," Harry nodded. Joel picked up his book and stood, "I'm going to turn in for the night." And made his way towards the bedrooms before pausing at the door, "and thanks Harry, for understanding."

Harry sat in the chair contemplating; what Joel had told him made his behaviour at times a lot more understandable. He hoped that Joel would take him up on his offer, if after twenty years this was still affecting him so much, he obviously hadn't had a chance to deal with it at all. He closed his eyes in thought.

"Hey Harry, wake up," Ellie said prodding him in the shoulder.

Harry rubbed his eyes before looking at Ellie and gulping, she sat on the arm of the chair with just a towel wrapped around her, her hair hung loosely around her shoulders and she had a smile on her face.

"Er, hi Ellie," he stammered out.

"Something wrong Harry," she answered with a smirk, her eyes seeming to twinkle in the light from the lamps.

"Nope," he gulped trying to keep his eyes focused on her face, while she was totally covered up there was a lot of creamy skin on show with a dusting of freckles across her shoulders.

He leaned up and placed a gentle kiss on her lips, she smelt of strawberries and he could detect mint from the toothpaste.

"I'm going to grab a shower Ellie, I'll see you in the morning," he said while standing up, Ellie grabbed him before he could move further pulling him in close, she leaned in and kissed him again. Harry was intensely aware of how close she was to him. She kissed him slowly before whispering in his ear "good night."

Ellie watched Harry stumble his way towards the bedrooms with a smirk, inwardly she was shaking. She couldn't believe that had worked. When she spied the book in that bookstore about seduction, she had initially ignored it but on a whim, she had snuck it into her bag on her way out. She only usually read it when she was in the bath or by herself as some of the things in it made her blush bright red. This was the first time she had felt brave enough to try anything and judging by Harrys reaction it had really worked well.

The next morning, they were all up bright and early. Harry seemed to be positively bouncing around the kitchen with energy.

Joel stopped for a moment on the way to the table to watch him. There was something different about him, but he couldn't quite place what it was.

"Morning Harry," he said pouring himself a mug of coffee from the carafe Harry had already prepared.

"Hey Joel, great day isn't it," Harry replied with a smile.

"You alright?"

"Yeah why wouldn't I be," Harry said stopping what he was doing to look at Joel who was eyeing him suspiciously.

"You just seem very … energetic this morning that's all." Joel said with a quirk of his eyebrow while taking a sip of his coffee. He held it in his mouth a moment before swallowing, "damn Harry, that's a mighty fine brew you've made this morning."

"Yeah, I dunno I just woke up this morning feeling great for some reason," Harry replied, waving his hand causing all the dishes he used to start washing themselves.

"Don't you usually need a wand to do that?" Joel stated before starting in on his breakfast.

"Huh, you know I didn't even realise," Harry said with a frown, "I mean I've done the odd bit of wandless magic before but usually just small things, like calling my wand to me or lighting it from a distance."

"Is it common for your type to do magic without one of those wands?"

"Not really. I mean some folks could do what I used to do, I only heard of really powerful wizards performing wandless magic with ease, like Dumbledore my former headmaster." Harry replied.

"Dumbledore, what the hell sort of name is that." Joel smirked.

"Yeah, strange names were common in the wizarding world. One of my best friends middle name was Billius."

"What are you talking about," Ellie interjected walking out from the bedroom.

"Oh, just strange names in the wizarding world and how are you this morning gorgeous," Harry said while taking her hands and pulling her in for a hug.

Ellie blushed bright red before mumbling out, "I'm good. You're in a good mood today!"

Harry pulled back looking at her before leaning forwards and placing a gentle kiss on her lips. "I am aren't I, sit down I will get you some breakfast."

Harry placed a glass in front of her, "here try this while I make you something."

Ellie picked the glass up while looking at the contents, it was a pale orange and the glass was icy cold, she took a tentative sip, "oh, that's delicious, what's it?"

"Orange juice, or as close as I could come to make it anyway," Harry replied.

"Where did you get oranges from?" Joel asked curiously.

"Oh, I remembered seeing what I thought were oranges when we were looking for a place to camp last night but I wasn't sure, I went and looked earlier. You want some Joel?" Harry gestured to the jug he had in his hands.

"No thanks, maybe later."

Harry went back to preparing breakfast for Ellie, once again Joel tried to place what was different about him.

"Hey Ellie," he said in almost a whisper, "do you notice anything different about lover boy this morning?"

"Shut up," Ellie replied with a blush, "he does seem different somehow, I don't quite know what though."

"Hmm, yeah that's what I thought," replied Joel.

Before long Harry was placing an omelette in front of Ellie. When hunting yesterday they had found actual chickens, they had a few in storage and collected a good dozen eggs for breakfast today.

Harry sat down pouring his own cup of coffee while smiling happily, Ellie looked towards him before she realised what was different, "Harry, where are your glasses?"

"Huh, Harry reached up checking for himself he wasn't actually wearing them, looking at Joel and Ellie he could see them clear as day, in fact he would say this was the clearest he had ever saw anything."

Ellie moved closer looking at his startling green eyes, she brushed his hair aside with her hand causing Harry to smile at her, she loved his eyes and now she could see them closer. They were green like hers, but they were so bright and seemed to shine with an inner power unlike any eyes she had every seen. Realising how intently she was studying him Ellie fought to contain the blush she knew would come any minute, "Harry, your scars gone!"

"What, but that's impossible," Harry stood and rushed into the bathroom returning not long after he entered, "it's gone, it's really gone. I was always told a curse scar like that could never be removed. It faded after I killed Voldemort but was always there as a reminder."

"What do you think could have caused that and the other strange things?" Joel asked.

"Strange things?" Ellie said towards Joel.

"Well he was doing magic without his wand earlier, him not needing glasses anymore and now his impossible to remove scar disappearing." Joel listed off.

"There's something more going on here," Harry replied. He had felt different since he arose this morning, more powerful is the only way he could describe it, ever since he had awoken after performing the _fiendfyre_ yesterday he could almost feel his magic pulsing under his skin awaiting his bidding. "Can we spare a day from travelling?" he asked Joel.

"Yeah sure, it's not like we're on a schedule and with your tent we can rest anywhere." Joel shrugged, "why what are you thinking?"

"How would you like to see Scotland," Harry replied with a grin.


	7. Chapter 7

"So how we going to do this?" Joel asked.

"Portkey, it's too far to apparate and it will get us there in a few minutes." Harry answered.

"Oh great, more magical travel, is it as bad as the other one?" Ellie asked.

"I found it easier when I couldn't apparate, there's no squeezing sensation but it does whirl around a bit so can make you dizzy. Everybody ready?" Harry said while picking up a book laying on the table. Concentrating he envisioned where he wanted to arrive before incanting _portus_ while pointing his Holly wand at the book. It glowed a soft blue in response. "okay, put a finger on it, it leaves in ten seconds."

Ellie and Joel both placed fingers on the edge of the book.

"Oh, and don't leave go, don't want you to go flying off while over the ocean or anything," Harry said with a grin.

Joel and Ellie both tightened their grips on the book, hoping that Harry was only joking.

With a swirl of colours, the tent was empty.

Thousands of miles away several minutes later the three of them appeared in a swirl of colour.

Ellie and Joel both sat down rapidly trying to regain their senses, Harry used to this form of travel now was looking around eagerly. The sun was just starting to creep over the horizon due to the time differences between Scotland and the States.

"Wow, I'm really in a different country," Ellie said in wonder while looking around in amazement.

Even Joel looked amazed at the fact that they had travelled so far in such a short amount of time. If they only knew where Jackson was, they could have been there in minutes instead of months.

Harry meanwhile sat down beside Ellie placing his arm around her and pointing out the rising sun and the way the light bounced off the lake and lit up the countryside, she leaned into his side. Harry started describing the school he attended, how it perched over the lake and how he first saw it on a boat crossing it. It did sound magical, Ellie had only known the world she lived in now but from the stories Joel and Harry told and the books she read, she was saddened at how much she had missed out on but then she thought back to the boy to her side and the man sitting across from her. They had become family in a way and that is more than she had ever had. Even Marlene had kept her at arm's length, she never met her until she was thirteen even though she was supposedly close friends with her mother Anna who she never got to meet as well.

Harry pulled out his wand, pausing a moment he then thrust it out saying loudly _expect patronum_ and a brilliant silver stag leapt forward before seeming to survey the area before deciding there was no threats and turning towards Harry and Ellie, they both stood up as it approached, "hello Prongs," Harry said quietly while running his hand across its flanks, "here Ellie come closer."

She approached it quietly, she couldn't quite describe the feeling that was emanating from it, it just felt so good, "wow" was all she said as she ran her hand down its side, she could feel something tingling across her fingertips.

Joel sat to the side looking on in amazement, he had never felt something like this for over twenty years, it was the feeling of love pure and simple, it reminded him of how he felt whenever he held Sarah, a solo tear escaped his eye before running down his cheek and disappearing into his beard.

"Go tell the centaurs that Harry Potter is here with guests and requests a meeting with the herd leader." Harry told the stag who bowed before turning and running rapidly across the fields towards the nearby forest.

"Wow, that was amazing Harry, what was that?" Ellie said still staring in wonder towards the retreating stag.

"It's called a patronus, the form it takes is something that is different depending on the caster, my dad was an _animagi_ which is a witch or wizard who can turn into an animal, it's something you can learn but not everybody is capable of it, he could turn into a stag, his nickname was Prongs. Patronuses are used as protection against dark creatures and are conjured by using a positive memory and strong positive emotions. They can also carry messages across vast distances. Normally non magical folk cannot see them or maybe they are just unaware of them, I think my casting it in your presence made a difference, I'm not sure."

Joel was still sitting quietly, lost in his thoughts. Ellie looked his way, "you okay there Joel?"

"Yeah, just hit me a bit that's all, wasn't expecting it, I'm okay though," he said rising to his feet. "So, what now Harry?"

"Now we wait for an envoy from the Centaurs, are you ready to meet your first sentient non-human?"

"I know you said they exist but it's still quite hard to believe you know, I guess I'll soon find out," Joel answered him.

Ellie meanwhile seemed to get even more excited at the thought of meeting a magical creature.

"You okay there Ellie; you look fit to burst?" Harry asked with a smile.

"Fuck yeah, I mean Centaurs, I'm going to meet a fucking Centaur, that's so awesome!" she replied with glee.

It took about an hour before Harry noticed movement from within the tree lines. "Here we go," he said to Joel and Ellie who followed his line of sight towards the movement in the trees.

Three centaurs walked out of the forest and slowly made their way towards them. Harry, Ellie and Joel got to their feet ready to greet them. "Let me do the talking," Harry said quietly, both nodding in the affirmative.

"Greetings Harry Potter, you return once more with kin and mate," Frienze greeted him in a loud voice.

"Hello again Frienze, this is Ellie and Joel, my friends." Harry said trying to ignore the mate comment.

"Majorian is eager to see you once again, Harry Potter friend of Centaurs and your guests are welcome as well."

"Thank you, I am eager to see Majorian as well. I need his help."

"Is that so, best to discuss that with him young Harry, let's go." Said Frienze gesturing towards the forest.

Harry greeted the other two Centaurs, neither of which he knew and they all slowly made their way towards the forest for quite some time before Ellie whispered to Harry, "Harry, I think we should go the other way!"

Harry looked at her curiously before coming to a realisation, "Joel, Ellie, I set up quite strong muggle repelling wards the last time I was here to keep out the infected, it may give you a feeling of unease until we pass through the outer area, just ignore it as best as you can, actually come here."

Harry looked at Joel first, "Joel I can put a charm on your watch so it doesn't affect you anymore, I can also fix your watch for you if you want."

Joel looked surprised at Harrys words before nodding.

Harry cast a quick _reparo_ and the glass formed back together while the metal and leather shone as if new, Joel just looked at it in wonder, Harry then cast a charm which would act as a protection against the muggle repelling charm, it was similar to what they used when non magical parents visited Hogwarts. Harry then looked at Ellie, she didn't have any Jewellery on her, she seemed to know what he was looking for as she took off her backpack and reached inside, she pulled out a Firefly disc which she handed to Harry with a look of trepidation, Harry guessed there was a story there but would wait until Ellie felt comfortable telling him. "You want me to do the same Ellie?"

She seemed to ponder his question for a moment before nodding in the affirmative. Harry cast a _reparo_ causing the medallion to straighten out and the metal to shine once again, concentrating he conjured a matching chain, he was surprised how easy it was, conjuring usually took quite a lot of power. He looped the chain through the medallion before casting the charm to bypass the muggle repelling then he looped it over Ellie's head before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to her head.

Harry wasn't sure what the items meant to Ellie and Joel but obviously the were of sentimental value to them, no doubt he would learn who they reminded them off in the future, with Joel he had strong suspicions it was his daughter judging from the way he kept glancing at the watch.

Once again, they set off towards the Centaurs clearing, Joel and Ellie both more at ease now that they weren't being affected by the repelling wards. Harry thought they were both handling seeing Centaurs pretty well, he could see them both glancing at their escorts from time to time as if to check that they were real but other than that they were fine.

Frienze led them towards a dwelling, "please make yourselves comfortable while we make preparations, you will find fresh food and drinks inside, please avail yourself of what is available."

"You didn't have to go to all this trouble Firenze."

"It's no trouble Harry Potter friend of the Centaurs," Frienze replied with a bow before turning and walking away with the other two.

"Damn more titles, just Harry would do," Harry grumbled before entering the dwelling. Even though from outside it appeared as little more than a window and a doorway cut into a mound once inside it was clean and bright, the floor was thatched with some sort of leaves and the walls were a bright painted white. A table and chairs were inside, they looked to have been freshly made and Harry was of the opinion this whole place was made in case he returned. The furniture and everything inside were ideal for a human but not for centaurs.

They all sat down at the table before Ellie piped up, "this place is awesome, I cannot believe I met an actual centaur, it's so .. so.. I dunno just amazing!"

Harry smiled at her, it made him happy that she could still find joy in this world, which was filled with so much despair, her excitement was infectious, "you're adorable, you know that."

"Shut up," Ellie replied but she was obviously pleased with his complement.

"So, oh great Harry, friend of the Centaurs," Joel started before laughing at the look on Harrys face. "Just kidding, they really seem to like you here kid."

"Yeah, it's strange, I mean I had friends who were centaurs back in my reality, but they weren't big fans of humans generally. Maybe it's because there aren't magical humans here telling them how to live."

"Makes sense," Joel nodded. "So, you reckon they would be able to tell you what's going on?"

"I had a feeling when I was here last time that they knew something, but they were holding back."

"Like what?" asked Ellie.

"Well it wasn't so much anything they said, it was more what they didn't say. I just felt like they were holding something back. I could be totally wrong but the centaurs I knew were proficient at reading the stars," Harry said with a frown.

"Like fortune telling. That seems a bit farfetched," Joel said with a smile. While Ellie looked thoughtful.

"You mean as farfetched as a wizard appearing from a different world," Harry smirked at Joel in reply.

Meanwhile Ellie started looking at the table and all the fruits laid out for them. "Harry, are these magical foods?"

It was Joel who answered though, "nope, they are normal fruits, damn I haven't seen some of these since before the outbreak, tangerines, bananas, kiwi, plums, grapefruit, peaches, apples, oranges, grapes and pineapple. Go on Ellie try some."

Using the knives on the table Ellie tried a little bit of everything, Harry used a cutting spell to slice the pineapple for her. Joel and Harry were amused at the looks on Ellie's face, even Joel enjoyed some fruit that he had never tasted for years.

"How do they manage to grow all these Harry, I don't imagine Scotland gets very hot," Joel asked.

"Magic," Harry shrugged.

It wasn't long after that when one of the younger centaurs brought them to the meeting place. Majorian and a lot of the village seemed to be there already. Harry moved forward to greet the centaur Elder.

"Hello Harry Potter, greetings from the centaurs. I'm pleased that you have returned. How may we assist you today?"

"Hello Majorian," Harry answered in greeting, "this is my friend Joel and my girlfriend Ellie." He said while gesturing for them to come forward.

Harry was impressed at how easily Joel and Ellie had adjusted to the magical world, here they were meeting a whole new sentient species and they didn't seem bothered at all.

Majorian stood up, "Welcome friends of Harry Potter, Joel and Ellie, know you are always welcome here as friends of the centaurs."

Joel looked surprised but answered calmly, "Thank you sir."

Ellie however was Ellie, "wow, that's so cool, um, thanks so much," she beamed.

Harry couldn't help the look of fondness he sent in her direction; she really was adorable.

Majorian gestured for them all to sit, after arranging themselves comfortably Harry decided what he wanted to say.

"When I was here last, I had the feeling that there was something you didn't tell me, since then things have happened, they may not be linked but they may be." Harry began, "If there is anything that you can tell me which may help, I would appreciate it."

Majorian looked thoughtful, he glanced between Bane and Frienze who were sat beside him before beginning to speak "How about you tell me what has changed Harry Potter and I will tell you anything I can which may be of assistance."

"Well the main things actually happened yesterday, my friends were under attack from a big group of infected, I used _Fiendfyre_ to combat them," at Magorian's confused look he added, "it's a form of cursed fire, partly sentient. After I reigned it in, I collapsed, I think just due to exhaustion but when I woke back up I rapidly regained my strength, any magic I cast afterwards just seemed easier and I can feel it just tingling under my skin as if eager to be used. I've never felt that before, the nearest was probably when casting spells and I could feel it travel down my arm but now it's everywhere all the time." Here Harry paused, taking a drink of water from the goblets provided, the whole gathering was quiet listening to his tale, "this morning, I got up as useful and started preparing breakfast but I felt full of energy, in a way I haven't felt in a long time. I also didn't realise but I wasn't wearing my glasses and my eyesight is better than it has always been, lastly I had a cursed scar," here Harry lifted his hair and pointed to where it used to be, "I've had it since I was attacked by a dark wizard and his curse rebounded when I was an infant, I was always told that it was impossible to remove. After I defeated the wizard the scar faded but was still visible, now it has totally gone." Harry finished.

Majorian was silent for several minutes apparently deep in thought, Bane and Frienze were talking to each other in low whispers and around them the other centaurs were discussing things amongst themselves.

Majorian looked at Harry closely as if weighing him up before seeming to come to a decision, "Frienze, please go and fetch the tome."

Frienze stood and entered a larger dwelling at the far end of the clearing, he returned within minutes with an extremely large book by human standards, it was obviously very old, there were runes engraved into the cover, but Harry was unable to decipher them.

"Most of our history is oral Harry Potter but sometimes things are too important and are recorded in this tome, centuries ago it was foretold that a great plague would sweep across the face of the earth decimating the human population but also restoring balance to the planet. It was also told that a child of prophecy would traverse time and space and would lead the world in a new direction, but he wouldn't do so alone. It was told he would travel with two companions, a guardian returning to the light after decades spent wandering in darkness and a girl with hair of fire who would be his soulmate and instrumental in his journey." Majorian stopped speaking and closed the tome.

Harry took in a deep breath and glanced at Ellie who had her head lowered but he could still see how red her face was, Joel was hard to judge, appearing stoic as he always did.

"And I thought my time being tied to prophecies was done," Harry sighed.

"This is why I did not wish to burden you with this Harry Potter, my best guess is that the changes you described are because you have accepted your place in this world and your ties to the people in it," at this he pointedly looked at Ellie and Joel.

"Thank you Majorian. I guessed it was going to be something like this and like every prophecy I have ever heard it's vague." Harry stood, gesturing to Ellie and Joel to do the same.

"Remember if you need me then you only have to call using the talisman," Harry said while picking a pebble up from the ground, on a whim he clenched his fist around it thinking _portus,_ blue light leaked from within his fist. He opened his palm telling Joel and Ellie to hold onto his hand and with a twinkling of light they whirled out of view.

"Still not back?" Joel asked Ellie exiting the bathroom. She was sat at the table, head resting on her arms looking at the entrance to the tent.

"I'm really worried Joel. What if he doesn't come back, fuck! This sucks." She replied.

Joel sat down at the table next to her, "Ellie, listen. He's just taking some time to deal with things, there's no way he would just leave."

"Yeah, maybe," she replied despondently.

"I'm going to go out and set some snares, do you want to come along?" Joel said while picking up and shouldering his backpack, he waited a moment while Ellie decided what to do, with a shrug she got up and went and picked up her pack and placing the pistol Joel got her in the waistband of her pants.

"Watch you don't end up shooting off a bum cheek," Joel said with a grin.

"Har-Har, since when are you such a comedian," she came back with.

"Well since you're slacking, I've had to take the reins, pass over that pun book," he gestured.

Ellie was surprised but did as he asked.

"Now let's see, ah, here we go. I can't believe I got fired from the calendar factory. All I did was take a day off." Joel said with a grin, "what not even a smile Ellie!"

She glanced his way and was trying to hide a smirk.

"See I knew I could get a smile out of you, now come here and I'll show you how to set a snare," Joel said handing her back her pun book which she placed back in her pack with a smile.

Joel showed her how to tie the knots which were most effective and how to funnel any animals into it, he pointed out where animals had been running previously. He glanced at Ellie, she was playing close attention, he remembered when he and Sarah used to go on hikes, she used to love just being outdoors with him, some of his fondest memories were of just taking off on the weekends and hiking in the surrounding countryside, pitching a tent and spending time under the stars. Despite trying to keep Ellie at arm's length he could no longer deny that he was fond of her, cared for her even, spending time with Ellie and Harry had been good for him in a lot of ways.

"Come on kiddo, let's head back, we've been out a while and Harry may be back."

Harry had just been idly wandering for the last few hours trying to sort out his thoughts. He hated the thought of being at the whims of prophecy again. He was also questioning his feelings for Ellie. In one moment, he was convinced that what he felt for her was genuine and wasn't the result of outside influences, the next he wondered at how quickly he had felt so at ease with her. Then there were his growing powers, he cast that _portus_ earlier and it was easier than casting with his wand. He was also convinced the centaurs hadn't told him the whole truth, while he didn't doubt that he was subject to prophecy again he just had a feeling when Majorian was speaking that he was being deliberately vague.

Then his thoughts turned to Ellie again and he was as confused as when he first came out here. He then came to a realisation, he couldn't sort this out on his own, he needed the input of Ellie and maybe Joel as well to get some perspective. For not the first time he wished he had the foresight to store a broom in the wizarding tent, flying was something he used to do to relax and he missed the feeling of soaring through the air.

Harry wandered back to where they decided to camp for the night, entering the tent it was empty. No doubt Ellie and Joel had gone hunting. He decided to cook for them to take his mind off things until he had a chance to discuss it with them.

Harry was just finishing tidying up when Ellie and Joel returned. Ellie instantly noticed him and ran over flinging her arms around him, he wrapped his arms around her not talking and just taking comfort in her hug. Joel seemed to decide they needed a few minutes to themselves and excused himself to wash up.

"Hey," Harry said to Ellie who squeezed him in response. Harry realised she was sobbing quietly. Pulling back so he could see her face there were tears on her cheeks.

"Ellie, what is it?"

"It's nothing, I'm just being fucking stupid," she sniffled.

"Hey, I've never known you to be stupid, please tell me what's wrong." He said gently wiping the tears away while casting a mild wandless cheering charm.

"I just thought you had left."

"Ellie, I would never do that to you, I promise." Harry said pulling her back in for a hug again.

"I know deep down that you wouldn't, like I said I'm just being stupid," she mumbled into his chest.

Harry just continued to hug her until Joel returned from the bathroom when he told her to take a seat and he started putting dishes on the table.

"Feeling a bit hungry are you Harry," Joel said while surveying the table.

Harry rubbed his neck sheepishly, "Yeah, I may have got carried away a bit, plus we needed to use this stuff up."

They all seemed to be in silent agreement to keep the discussions until after they ate. Ellie somewhat returned to normal becoming more boisterous as they ate. Harry was always surprised how much she could eat; she was so skinny but could put away more than him. Then again when you never knew when your next meal was going to be it made sense to eat as much as you could when you could.

Ellie dropped her fork on her plate and with a resounding burp announced she was full.

"Oh, so you won't be able to manage this," Harry said while dropping a chocolate frog box he had discovered under the bed in front of her.

Her eyes lit up and she gave Harry a big grin before snatching it off the table and eagerly opening the box and catching the chocolate before it decided to jump out of her reach.

After Joel and Harry were settled with coffee and Ellie was drinking the last of the orange juice Harry had made everybody seemed at a loss of words.

Harry deciding to bite the bullet jumped in first, "I hate prophecies, I lost my family because a madman decided to believe a prophecy and I spent most of my teen years fighting against evil because of it."

"So, do you put much stock in them?" Joel asked.

"You know, even after years of having one hanging over me in one form or another, I couldn't tell you if I believe in them. Maybe by people hearing them they make them come true in one way or another or twist the facts to suit them. They always seem so vague."

"I don't think they're real," Ellie said, "you make your own decisions."

"I suppose you're right, I mean if it was real that would mean I'm stuck with you since you would be my soulmate well unless I meet another redhead somewhere." Harry laughed at Ellie's expression.

"Hey fuck you, you should be happy to have a soulmate as cool as me!" Ellie replied with a grin.

"Well I say we just go on as we have been, don't change our plans, just continue onto Tommy's as we have been doing," Joel responded.

"There's one other thing," Harry said, "I'm growing more powerful, I can feel it." He held out his hand and with a wave all the plates and cutlery rose into the air and started whirling around, he lowered his hand and the dishes all settled on the table again.

"You think it's because of this prophecy then?" Joel asked.

"I'm not sure. I mean there was the strange way I arrived in this world; I don't know what effect that had if any. Then there's the fact this is a different world from what I know, maybe if there were magical users here, they would be more powerful and wouldn't need wands. I don't know enough about magical theory to even speculate on the cause."

Ellie got up and wrapped her arms around Harry from behind, resting her head on his shoulder, "well this is your world as well now, you're stuck with us."

Ellie had gone to have a bath, so Harry stood up from the couch and went and sat at the table where Joel was performing his regular maintenance on his weapons. Even if he hadn't used them that day, he still tended to maintain them, he had explained once that they could be the difference between life and death, a jammed weapon was useless.

"Joel, I've been thinking. The weather is turning colder, and we will be in Autumn soon. I think we need to start travelling faster and since we haven't found a working vehicle, I have an idea." Harry started.

"Go on then, what's your idea?" Joel responded.

"I can't really explain it, but you know I'm getting stronger, err magic wise I feel more powerful. I think I should start scouting ahead in the mornings, I can travel quite far if I have a good sightline. I think I can easily do that multiple times then I can jump back and jump you and Ellie forward. Then we could break earlier for the day, do some hunting, I can practice my magic and you can train Ellie up some more."

"Train Ellie?" Joel quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, I mean she's lethal with that bow and you said she handled the pistol well. I'm not saying she needs to carry around an arsenal like yourself, but I would feel a lot better if she had familiarity with all the common weapons just in case of an emergency."

Joel seemed hesitant so Harry continued, "look I know she's young and without being sexist we should protect her but, in this world, I think it's prudent and I would say that even if I didn't care for her so much."

"Okay, I see your point and it couldn't hurt to train her, like you said it's better to be prepared."

"So, what do you think about my scouting idea then?" Harry asked.

"I think it could be really useful if you think you can handle it without tiring yourself out. Not sure how happy Ellie will be about it, you think she can cope being away from you for that long?" Joel replied with a smirk on his face.

"Oh I'm sure she will have something to say about it, but unless we get a vehicle we aren't going to hit Jackson until at least late autumn maybe even into the winter and I don't know about you but travelling through snow and ice isn't on my list of favourite things to do. I spent a miserable winter hiding out with my two best friends in a tent just like this, it was terrible, even with magic to protect us."

"Yeah me and Tommy, my brother had a few rough winters hiding out in abandoned buildings, freezing our asses off. Hell, even the quarantine zones were no picnic during winter, half the time the power would go out so even the little electric heater I had was useless."

"How about we talk about it with Ellie in the morning, it's been a long day and I'm beat" Harry said while getting up, "night Joel."

"Night Harry." Joel replied.

A few minutes later Ellie came out of the bathroom, she looked around before noticing Harry wasn't on the couch anymore, "where's Harry Joel?"

"He just went to bed a few minutes ago, I think the stress of today has wiped him out."

"Oh," Ellie replied her face falling, ever since they had got together and even sometimes before Harry cuddled her before going to bed, she knew it was stupid, but it was sort of their thing and she missed him doing it tonight.

"Anyway, Harry has an idea of how to speed up our travels, he said he would talk about it at Breakfast and he also asked me to train you up in different weapons."

At this Ellie got an excited look on her face, "really like the rifle and shotgun?"

"Yeah don't get too excited though, he feels you should know how to handle all the common weapons, doesn't mean you get to go all Rambo," Joel laughed.

"Rambo? What the fuck is a Rambo?" Ellie asked confused.

Joel laughed at her expression, "it was from a movie, the guy was a soldier, but he was like a one-man army, carried loads of weapons and killed lots of bad guys."

Ellie thought for a minute, "huh, sounds like you!"

Joel stopped laughing at that, "look Ellie, I'm not a good guy, I've done some bad things to survive, don't be thinking otherwise."

Ellie was quiet at this before responding, "okay, I'm going to head to bed anyway, night Joel."

"Goodnight Ellie," he replied.

The next morning Harry explained his plan to Ellie, as expected she wasn't happy, but she had to concede travelling through the winter wouldn't be good and the sooner they got to Jackson the better.

Harry was currently crouched on top of a hill overlooking a small town, he saw a few infected shambling about but nothing they couldn't handle easily. Looking at the sky he judged it was around midday so they could spend some time in the town searching for supplies before hunting later on in the surrounding woods.

Standing up, he looked around before picking up a rock, he apparated invisible and near silently onto the biggest street he could see, looking around he picked a target and launched the rock through one of the remaining windows on a nearby storefront. As expected, runners ran to the source of the noise looking around wildly unable to see or sense Harry. He waited a few minutes to see if any clicker or stalkers appeared but nothing. With a quick incendio he wiped out the runners before concentrating on the location charm on Ellie and disapparating with a whisper.

"Fucking hell Harry, I need to tie a bell on you or something," Ellie said punching his shoulder while breathing hard.

Harry was attempting to hold in his laughter, but he was fighting a losing battle.

"You're just lucky you didn't end up with a knife in your eye," Joel said with a smirk.

Ellie flicked out her knife to make a point.

"Okay, I'll appear a bit further away next time," Harry conceded. "There's a town about maybe twenty miles away which we can search for supplies, there wasn't much infected around, I dealt with a few."

"You've been twenty miles already? You've only been gone a couple of hours. How are you feeling?" Joel asked.

"I feel fine, I'm not even tired. I only stopped because the town looked like a good place to scavenge and there's surrounding forests for hunting as well," Harry shrugged.

Harry waved his hand packing up the tent which shrunk down to a very small size and floated into his pocket and with another wave all signs of them being there was removed.

"Show off," Ellie said with a grin, but she did look impressed. Harry came over and wrapped his arm around her shoulder before leaning in and kissing her cheek.

"So are you two ready for another adventure," Harry asked with a cheeky grin.

"Yeah, it's just the travelling part I ain't looking forward to," Joel said coming over and grabbing Harrys elbow.

Harry concentrated for a moment on the street he had been in earlier before with a surge of power he transported the three of them.

"Huh, that felt different," Ellie said.

"Yeah Harry, that didn't feel like getting sucked up through a straw and bent like a pretzel," Joel said checking himself for missing parts as he always did when subjected to magical travel.

Harry shrugged, "well I didn't do anything different, just chalk it down to another one of the weird things happening lately."

Suddenly a shot ricocheted off the ground next to Joel, the three of them dove behind a rusting car.

"What the fuck," said Ellie breathing heavily.

Joel meanwhile slid the rifle from his back using the scope to try and pinpoint the sniper, he saw a glint from a window at the far end of the street. He passed the sniper to Harry telling him where to look. Harry handed the rifle back to Joel.

"Hang on, I'll deal with this," Harry said disappearing and reappearing a few seconds later with a man bound from head to toe with ropes, his face was frozen apart from his eyes which looked around in confusion.

Joel pulled his revolver from his holster, "Harry can you let him talk."

There was no apparent movement from Harry but the next moment the guy started cursing up a storm, Joel pulled him up to a sitting position before clocking him on the side of the head with the pistol, he pulled him back up.

"Listen carefully, I have a mind just to kill you slowly for being a cowardly shit and trying to snipe me, now how many of you are they?"

The guy spat in Joel's face and started laughing, "do what you fucking want, this is our town and you aren't getting out of here, dunno how you got in without alerting us but you're fucked, you may as well give up now and we'll let you die quickly," then he looked at Ellie, "apart from you darling, a sweet little thing like you, be fun to play with," he gave a sickening grin.

The next thing Joel new he was pushed aside as if he was hit by a battering ram and was lying six foot away from where he was. Harry was standing about a foot away from the guy and Joel could literally see the power pouring off him like heatwaves from a road on a hot day, Harry thrust his hand out and the bandit rose from the ground and then he started screaming, Joel could hear popping sounds and suddenly came to the realisation that the kid was breaking his bones one by one.

He was wary of approaching Harry who seemed lost in his own world, he looked at Ellie who was standing there frozen, she caught his eye and nodded before slowly approaching Harry and putting her hand on his shoulder, as soon as she did the bandit dropped to the floor obviously dead, his limbs were all broken.

Harry turned around and wrapped Ellie in his arms, Joel couldn't hear what was being said but Ellie was talking to him in a low voice, he nodded several times before turning and offering his hand to Joel pulling him to his feet with a grunt.

"Sorry about that Joel, I didn't mean to shove you like that I lost control of my magic for a moment." Harry said sheepishly.

"Yeah remind me never to get on your bad side, you hit like a truck." Joel said rubbing the shoulder he had landed on.

Harry placed his hand on Joel's shoulder, a blue light appearing and fading rapidly. Joel rotated his arm.

"Huh, good as new, you're getting better at that healing stuff Harry."

"So, what should we do?" Ellie said looking around as if she expected an attack from any direction.

"I say we just get out," Joel said, "not worth the effort or the risk and if they are entrenched here, they probably combed all the buildings for anything worthwhile."

"But what if other people come here, you heard what that man said, what if .. I mean what if other girls come here and they catch them," Ellie said looking at Harry.

One look at her eyes and Harry knew he had to do something, there was a fear there that wasn't there before, and he hated that these bastards had caused that.

Harry held out his hand to Joel and Ellie, reappearing at the furthest point of the street, "stand behind me guys," Harry said before taking out the Elder Wand, he didn't want to try this wandless. He started chanting lowly, Ellie shuddered, even the language made her uneasy and Joel looked affected by it as well. Harry thrust his wand forward and a shriek sounded in the air before a wave of demonic figures spread out racing down the street. Harry twisted his wand from side to side and the fire dove and rushed across the buildings, everywhere they touched buildings rapidly burned and collapsed in on themselves, even through the roar and shrieks of the fire Ellie was sure she heard men crying out in fear. Within minutes the whole town was ablaze, thick black smoke was spiralling away into the sky. Harry concentrated and with a grunt the fire seemed to grow before dissipating into nothing.

The silence afterwards was eerie. Harry grabbed each of their shoulders and they disappeared leaving a destroyed town in their wake.


	8. Chapter 8

Two weeks had passed since the events of the town and Harry was still on edge. He couldn't believe he had walked them into a trap and since then had thoroughly scanned any area before they entered. They were now averaging about fifty miles per day and Joel had calculated they would hit Wyoming within a month which Harry was glad about, the further they travelled the colder it was getting and visibility wasn't the best which was limiting his apparition due to not being able to see as far. For what must have been the hundredth time he wished he had stored a broom. He would have loved to take Ellie flying. Ellie, Harry sighed. He knew she was tough but he still worried, after encountering those thugs who would have raped her at the least it made him realise how messed up this world was. Not that things like that didn't happen in his world but it just seemed in this one, there was more people left who would resort to things like that.

For the first couple of days after he destroyed that town, he was reluctant to leave Ellie and Joel and scout ahead but eventually Joel had pointed out that if they didn't increase their pace they would likely be travelling through bad weather for weeks.

Even though it was mid afternoon the sky was darkening with storm clouds. Harry cast a revealing charm at the farmhouse he had found, there was one signature coming from the ground floor, but it wasn't moving. Harry suspected it was an infected and disillusioned himself before opening the door as quietly as he could. He slowly made his way through the house before spying what he was searching for, a lone clicker stood silently. Harry had plenty of experience with dealing with infected now and even though they looked mainly human he had no qualms about killing them, in fact he thought it was a mercy to put them out of this tortured existence and if anything of the person who they were remained they would likely be thankful. He wandlessly cast a stunning spell causing the clicker to crumple to the ground then he levitated it towards and through the rear door away from the building before letting it rest on the ground. Pulling out the Elder Wand he concentrated, and a green light enveloped the body causing its death. Harry had always been taught that the killing curse required hate to work but it wasn't true. His only thoughts when casting it was to ease the suffering of the infected. In fact, he wondered if in fact it's true use had originally been for medicinal purposes and it had been corrupted by dark wizards.

He prepared a grave and lowered the body into it before covering it in earth. He conjured a simple cross which he placed in the ground and silently stood for a moment wondering who this person was in life before sighing and returned to the farmhouse.

After double checking the building was empty Harry concentrated on Ellies location and appeared a few metres away before calling out. Since his repeated apparitions' daily he had grown near silent when apparating so made sure to announce his presence after Joel nearly put a bullet through him one time.

Even though they had the magical tent Harry preferred to find a building each day to rest in for the night, it was easier to ward than being outside where you could be approached from all directions. Here he just warded the doors and stairs with muggle repelling and with Hermione's ward stones he felt they were as safe as could be. Even Joel thought he was being a bit paranoid, but Harry was reluctant to stop for the night otherwise.

Ellie sat on the couch a book lay open on her lap, but her attention kept wandering. Ever since the town a couple of weeks ago Harry had been different. He was still affectionate with her and when they were in the tent like now, he was mainly back to his old self but when they were travelling, he became very intense and paranoid as if he expected them to be attacked at any time. She had even asked Joel for advice how to help him, but Joel felt it was something Harry had to come to terms with on his own. Joel had experienced this world for twenty plus years and it was all that Ellie had ever known but to Harry who until a few months ago had lived in a normal world, well normal for him with his magical society and now he was in a world where human life was cheap and each day was a struggle for survival.

Harry was in the kitchen now and he appeared like his normal self, he was cheerfully cooking, something he genuinely appeared to like. Ellie smiled, she liked seeing him like this and decided to go and help him.

"Hey Harry," Ellie said coming up to him and wrapping her arms around him from behind.

"Hey gorgeous," Harry said causing Ellie to blush. She still had trouble accepting compliments.

"I was thinking," Harry began pausing for a moment, "I want to try something with you later after dinner. It might not work so I don't want you to get your hopes up. I have, an artefact. It enables me to call the spirits of people who have died and talk to them. I don't know if non magicals can even use it or even if it will work for people from this world, but I want to try, that is if you do."

Ellie's was confused listening to Harry talk, when he said he wanted to try something with her she was thinking of something else before he had kept talking, she was glad he couldn't see her face as she was sure it was bright red. She tried to rid her mind of those thoughts and concentrate on what he had said. The thought of being able to talk to Riley again or her mother who she couldn't even remember had her heart racing. She took a couple of deep breaths trying to calm herself realising that Harry was awaiting her answer.

"Yeah, I would like to try Harry, fuck I mean if it works it will be amazing," she exclaimed.

Harry turned around looking at her with a small smile, he leaned down and softly kissed her, as always she felt a tingle when he touched her, it seemed to dance across her skin softly caressing her, she sighed and leaned back in kissing him back more firmly.

"You have to realise Ellie, this might not work at all and even if it works it's not something we can use regularly, it's not good to pull them from the afterlife," Harry said while holding her close.

Ellie just held him tighter nodding into his chest just enjoying being close to him.

Later, that evening Harry and Ellie sat at the table while Joel lounged on the couch, his head stuck in a book on survival as he had taken to doing lately. Harry flicked his finger, a trail of light streaked off it and whizzing around Ellie's head causing her to giggle. She liked it when Harry was in a playful mood. She was impatient to go and try out the stone, at once scared but excited at the same time. Harry had told her they would wait until Joel retired for the night before trying it as he didn't want to have to explain what they were doing or to lie to Joel.

It seemed to take forever before Joel yawned loudly and announced he was turning in for the night with the admonishment not to stay up late as he wanted to get an early start.

Harry gestured to Ellie to follow him as he stood up, exiting the tent Ellie shivered as the night was clear and cold. Harry came up to her and wrapped his arms around her and she was enveloped in warmth from his wandless warming charm.

"Let's go a bit away from the tent, I know an ideal spot, you ready?"

Ellie nodded bracing herself closing her eyes.

"We're here," Harry announced.

Ellie opened her eyes in surprise, she hardly felt anything at all.

"Hey, you're getting good at that, I don't feel like puking at all," she gave him a smile.

"Yeah, I think it's the constant practice and I just feel stronger these days. Come and sit over here," Harry gestured at a patch of grass. There were on a hilltop, all around them was darkness and the sky were littered in stars.

Harry sat down gesturing for Ellie to sit in between his legs, he wrapped his arms around her resting his head on her shoulder for a moment before asking, "are you ready to try this?"

Ellie hesitated for a moment before replying, "what will happen exactly?"

"It's as simple as closing your eyes, turning the stone over three times in your hand while thinking of the person you wish to talk to," Harry said placing the stone in her hand, "just take your time and try when you're ready."

Ellie looked at the stone closely, it was nondescript, a dull black with what at first glance looked like scratches but upon looking closer looked like the strange writing that was in Harrys books. Taking a deep breath to psych herself up she closed her eyes before following Harry's directions. She opened her eyes disappointed when nothing seemed to have changed, she let out a sigh.

"Fuck, it didn't work Harry."

"Try it again, maybe try thinking of somebody different," Harry suggested.

She tried again and was disappointed again when upon opening her eyes nobody appeared. She shook her head.

"Okay let's try something different; this will probably feel a bit weird so don't freak out, I'm just going to push some magic into you," Harry said gripping her arms loosely.

Ellie nodded indicating she was ready, she could feel a tingling in her arms, not unsimilar to the feeling whenever Harry touched her.

"Okay, try when you're ready Ellie." Harry suggested.

Once again Ellie tried and was disappointed when nothing changed. She shook her head in frustration.

"I'm sorry Ellie, there was no guarantee it would work for you or even in this world."

Ellie spun around to look at him, Harry was disappointed to see that her eyes were watery.

"Hey, don't give up yet, we've only started trying," he said.

Ellie shook her head wiping at her eyes angrily, "it's not that, I just started thinking of my friend Riley and," she trailed off.

"Hey, I'm sorry Ellie. I shouldn't have asked you to do this," Harry said.

"No, it's okay, we had to try. Now shut up and kiss your girlfriend," Ellie said with a smirk.

Harry pulled her in close, he kissed her trying to pour all his feelings for her into that one kiss. Unbeknownst to them as Ellies hand which held the stone was currently around Harrys neck a silver glow started emanating from it in slow pulses.

They spent the next twenty minutes or so just lying and looking up at the stars chatting about their journey so far.

"Hey, I know it didn't work out how we wanted but it was nice just to spend some time alone outside the tent," Harry said.

"That was your plan all along wasn't it," Ellie giggled, "to get me all alone for your nefarious reasons."

"Hey, you know I would never do that to you Ellie."

"Why not, am I not cute enough for you?" she asked with a pout.

Harry burst out laughing, "you are adorably cute," he said leaning over and kissing her passionately.

"Holy shit, I mean just holy shit," Ellie said out of breath, her face flushed and her eyes sparkling.

"Hey, are you afraid of heights?" Harry suddenly asked.

"Err no not really why?" she answered curiously.

Harry just winked at her before pointing his finger at her, he slowly raised his arm and she started rising in the air.

Ellie looked around in wonder, it wasn't like she was very high, and it felt strange as it didn't feel like something was holding her up, more like something wasn't holding her down onto the earth. She could see around for miles in either direction, scattered around were points of lights, few and far between. She loved magic.

Harry smiled listening to Ellie gush over the view she had seen and how it felt to have been weightless, he transported them back the tent, putting up a silencing charm so as not to wake up Joel. He made her hot chocolate and watched her animatedly gesture, re-enacting how she floated up into the sky. He was glad that the night had ended on a high note even with the disappointment of the resurrection stone.

The wind was whipping through the air, leaves flew past as they fell from the trees, Autumn was well and truly underway. Joel was in the lead as usual his eyes scanning their surroundings for any sign of trouble. Harry had relaxed some and was less stressed about leaving Ellie, he could now apparate with hardly a thought and instinctively seemed to know where Ellie was without using the locating charm. It was just another weird thing which happened around him, so he didn't give it much thought, just accepted it. Ellie of course took it as further proof that they were destined to be together, something Harry was happy with even if the thought of predestiny still annoyed him.

Ellie was currently perched on his shoulders looking around and urging him to move faster much to his amusement, with a _featherlight_ charm she hardly weighed anything and often acted as a further lookout with her increased height.

"It's just around this bend Joel," Harry called out. He had scouted out this area earlier this morning, it was a small town. Mainly just a road with a few businesses scattered around and a few dwellings. Harry had cast _muggle repelling _and alert charms when he was here earlier, so he knew the place was safe. Ellie and Joel still had the charms which enabled them to ignore the _muggle repelling_ even thought it still made them slightly uncomfortable until they had bypassed the perimeter.

"This place looks untouched," said Joel while looking around, "must have been bypassed over the years, it's secluded."

"Yeah everything was locked up tight when I got here, all the doors are opened now. There's what looks like a hardware store on that corner, it seemed pretty well stocked from what I saw. Ellie you might one to check out that one, it's a clothing store. The roof has leaked in one corner, but I can magically repair anything."

Ellie took off with a squeal, she had been dying to get some new clothes, Harry had magically duplicated theirs but wearing the same stuff day after day was so boring.

Harry went to pick somewhere to pitch the tent, since this place was deserted and was already warded, he decided to just pitch it in the street, he could set the wardstones later before they turned in for the night. He then wandered around picking up branches which had fell from the trees, they were mostly dry so would be good for a fire and they had some rabbits they could roast. It made a change from cooking in a kitchen and they may as well enjoy the outside while they could.

Harry made the fire and started cooking the rabbits which Joel had already prepared. He conjured some chairs and sat down, before long he saw Ellie tottering out of the store, her arms were piled high with clothing, so much so that she had to peer around the sides to see where she was going, she spotted Harry and made a beeline for him with a big beaming smile.

"Hey gorgeous, do you have enough clothes there?" Harry asked with a smile, waving his hands and floating the pile down to the ground.

Ellie gave him a smile before sitting down and sorting through the pile, "there was just so many nice ones oh and I found these for you," she passed Harry some shirts and jeans, "and I found these for Joel, think he will like them," she laughed holding up some flannel shirts.

"Oh yeah, they're just his style," Harry laughed in response.

They had a pleasant evening, Ellie once again cleaned them out playing cards much to her amusement. Joel regaled them of stories of him and Tommy when they were younger and some of the mischief they used to get up to. Ellie had asked why him, and Tommy were no longer together, and Joel had explained they had a difference of opinion and parted on bad terms but that he was hopeful Tommy would be able to help them out.

"Hey Harry, come here a second," Joel said pointing to the map, "you reckon this is where we are? I couldn't see any road signs, but it looks right."

Harry looked over the map for a minute before nodding in the affirmative, "yeah I'm sure you're right, I vaguely saw a river when I was scouting yesterday and this is the only town in this area near this side and there further up, it's a dam and I saw something in the distance what could be it."

"Okay, well if you could scout in the morning. From what I remember Jackson should be a few miles on the other side of the damn."

"Yeah sure Joel. You okay about this? Not meaning to pry but you seemed hesitant when talking about Tommy."

Joel sighed rubbing his watch before answering, "Me and Tommy were always close, after the world went to shit my only aim was surviving, Tommy still held hope that this world could still be good again. We did a lot of shit I'm not proud of to survive, in the end it drove us apart. Tommy joined the Fireflies but seemly they didn't offer what he was looking for and he ended up in Jackson. His last words to me where that he never wanted to see me again."

Harry sat silently for a moment, "I don't have any siblings, but my two best friends were as close as. We were hunting magical artefacts, to keep one safe we had to wear it, but it brought out the worst in people. One day me and Ron had a massive falling out, we said a lot of nasty stuff to each other but when we reconnected it was all forgotten. I was just glad to see him safe; I have a feeling you and Tommy will be the same."

"Well I guess we will find out tomorrow, I'm going to turn in for the night. Night Harry, Ellie."

"Yeah night Joel," Ellie called out.

Harry wandered over to Ellie and sat down, she came over and sat in his lap, so he wrapped his arms around her, it was starting to get a bit chilly, but a quick warming charm had them feeling toasty soon enough.

"Is Joel okay?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah I think he's just nervous about seeing Tommy again and I think it's dredging up thoughts of whatever happened in the past to him."

Ellie turned her head up and kissed him, Harry responded in kind deepening the kiss while stroking his hand along her side. Ellie sighed and lay her head on his chest. She was silent for a while before starting to talk, "I sometimes don't believe this is real."

"What do you mean?"

"Well there's the whole fucking magic thing, which is awesome and then there's you which is even more fucking awesome! After I was bitten and lost Riley, I really lost hope. Even after I found out I was immune I was just going through the motions. You changed all that, I have something to live for now. I love you Harry, I fucking love you so much, you've changed everything, even Joel has changed because of you and he's a I dunno, friend, mentor. I dunno what to call it."

"Hey, you've done the same for me you know, I mean I liked you when I met you, but I thought I would find a way home. When I found out I was stuck in this world the only thing that kept me going was you and to a lesser extent Joel. I love you too Ellie, even without the whole prophecy thing I would still want to be with you," Harry smiled at her before placing a kiss on the tip of her nose causing her to giggle.

"You want me to lift you up, check the area before placing the wards?" Harry asked.

Ellie eagerly jumped to her feet with a big grin on her face, this had become one of her favourite parts of the day, Harry would raise her in the air, at first he kept her pretty low but now he often lifted her really high so she could see all around for miles, it was scary and exhilarating at the same time, it sort of reminded her of the time her, Tess and Joel had to go outside the building in downtown across a creaky lift, it was the first time she had been up high and it was amazing how far you could see.

Harry raised his arm and Ellie giggled in delight as she felt herself rocket into the sky, it was like flying but she felt no real fear because she knew Harry was looking out for her even though looking down give her the scary feeling in her stomach, her speed started slowing before she came to a stop, hovering in place and wavering a little with the wind. Looking around she could see the river Harry had said he had seen, it meandered from side to side looking exactly like a snake it was named after. She could see the dam perched on top of the river a few miles away. Joel had explained how it converted the movement of the water into electricity. When she had started in with her questions of how it did that Joel reached into his bag before handing her a book entitled 'How Things Work' she had found it fascinating. She wondered how much knowledge had been lost already, it made her sad to think of some of the things she would never get to experience. Coming back to herself she slowly turned surveying the surroundings, Joel was right, this place was well off the beaten track she could see no lights in any direction. She gripped Riley's pendant and concentrated on Harry, in a few moments she slowly started descending gaining speed as she went, she laughed in delight as she sped towards the ground, her hair whipping past her face.

Harry caught her and spun her around laughing as well, "so see anything noteworthy?"

"What's with the fucking posh words?" Ellie laughed, she liked to wind Harry up about his stiff English sometimes while he did the same with her foul mouth as he called it. "I saw Snake River and it does look like a big snake and the dam a few miles away, apart from that nothing, really dark out there, no lights."

"Good," Harry said reaching into his pockets and floating the four ward stones to their respective corners.

He wrapped his arms around Ellie, kissing her softly again, "Goodnight sweetheart, tomorrow should be interesting."

"Yeah, I just hope we find Jackson and Tommy okay," Ellie replied.

"Hey, have some faith, things have been going well lately," Harry said smiling and it was true. After the incident with the trap in the town things had been going well and they had made good time, tomorrow they should find out their final destination and hopefully it wouldn't be too far away.

"Yeah true, things have been good," she smiled at him before entering the tent.

Harry waved his hand extinguishing the fire before following her. Tomorrow was sure to be interesting.

_Sorry for the delay in this chapter and the short length, I didn't have much time free but the next chapter is being written now so hopefully I will get it out sooner._


	9. Chapter 9

"Well?" Joel asked looking up from the book he was reading and placing it down on the table.

"The dam is occupied, looks like some folks are trying to get it working again and from what I overheard when scouting they're from the town of Jackson," Harry replied.

"Hmm, makes sense, it they can get the machinery working again they would have a source of electricity other than relying on generators and scavenging gas," Joel said thoughtfully while taking a sip of his coffee.

Ellie soon joined them after having a shower, she walked up to Harry and shyly kissed him on the cheek, she was still reticent to show affection in front of Joel sometimes. Harry smiled at her in return and wished her good morning.

Harry had left quite early this morning after waking up early feeling fully refreshed and raring to go. After checking the wards for anything untoward he decided to head to the river and check on the plant. Even early on there were people busy with chores, they even had several horses which were being groomed and had lookouts on various vantage points scattered around the walls. Of course, this meant nothing to Harry. Wearing his invisibility cloak, he apparated to a high point overlooking the dam then down into a walled area, from there it was easy to slip inside and do some scouting. They seemed just like normal folks, apart from being heavily armed something which was obviously needed in these troubled times.

"So, we are going there then?" Ellie asked looking to Joel for an answer.

"Yeah, I think so, if we're lucky they know Tommy and will take us or direct us to Jackson," Joel answered.

"Okay, let me grab a quick shower then we can get moving," Harry said while moving towards the bathroom.

Ellie turned towards Joel, "Hey, you okay?" she asked noticing that he seemed preoccupied this morning.

Joel rubbed his hand over his eyes, "Yeah, just didn't sleep well. I guess the thought of seeing Tommy today was praying on my thoughts somewhat."

"I'm sure it will be okay Joel, your family after all," Ellie said while giving him a warm smile.

"Thanks Ellie, I appreciate it," he said returning her smile causing Ellies smile to widen happy that she had received a positive response from Joel.

Before long Harry had returned and they spent some time packing their bags with the gear they needed, they had agreed with Harrys wish to maintain the secrecy of his magical ability so didn't leave things in the tent as they usually would.

"Do you want me to apparate you up the river or should we walk?" Harry asked. It was a pleasant morning; the sky was cloudless, and it was quite warm for this late in the year. They all agreed just to walk for now, Harry could always transport them later if need be.

It only took around forty minutes before they reached the dam. Ellie looked over the railing at the fast-flowing river. "Hey Harry, do you know how to swim?"

"No, I never had a chance to learn, my relatives didn't bother teaching me and the boarding school I attended had a lake but no swimming classes. I did use a magical plant to give me webbed hands and feet and it allowed me to breathe underwater so I could compete in a competition." Harry replied with a wistful smile.

"Oh, wow that sounds cool. Is there a spell that allows you to do it as well?"

"No not that I know of, although a bubblehead charm encases your head in a bubble so you can breathe in water, doesn't teach you how to swim though," Harry shrugged.

"You want to help us across Harry?" Joel gestured to the other side of the walkway. Harry placed a hand on Ellie and Joel's shoulder and moved them to the other side.

"It's much better now that it doesn't feel like being crapped out of a giant's ass," Joel breathed in deeply.

His remark caused Ellie to burst out laughing and before long Harry and Joel had joined in, her laughter was infectious. Before long they started up the stairs which lead to the front entrance of the plant according to Harry.

"So, should we knock then?" Ellie asked.

"Seems a good as way as any," Joel said while walking up to the large metal doors and rapping on them.

The three waited and before long a woman appeared looking over the wall to the right of the gate. She had a rifle in her hands, but it wasn't currently pointed at them, on the left side three men appeared, also carrying rifles.

"Tommy is that you?" Joel called up to the closest man.

The man peered closely over the wall before disappearing. Before long the clanking of a bolt being withdrawn could be heard before the gate swung open. A man who was younger but had some similarity to Joel strode out before grabbing a surprised Joel in a hug before pulling back, holding him at arm's length and looking at him more closely.

"It's really you. Damn Joel you've gotten old," the man who must be Tommy said with a slight smirk.

"Easy now, it's going to happen to you too," Joel replied.

The woman who had been on top appeared out of the gate before joining them. Tommy gestured to the woman to his side, "This is Maria, be nice she kinda runs this place."

"Hello, thanks for not shooting me," Joel replied with an easy smile.

"That would have been awkward, considering you're my brother-in-law," she replied her eyes sparkling in mirth.

Joel looked at Tommy in surprise who just shrugged his shoulders.

Joel then gestured towards Ellie and Harry, "these are friends of mine. Ellie and Harry."

Maria greeted them happily while Tommy looked at Joel surprised and with a questioning look on his face.

Joel discreetly shook his head and Tommy seemed to understand it was something he wanted to discuss in private.

They entered the dam as a group. Before long Ellie had spotted some horses and ran ahead, Harry and Joel followed at a more sedate pace with Joel chatting with Tommy.

"I thought we would find you in Jackson," Joel stated.

"We've been here a week, trying to get the plant back up and running, we've got electricity Joel, well we do when the plant is running."

While electricity was common in the quarantine zones outside them unless you had a generator, it was rare indeed.

Harry left Joel to catch up with his brother and wandered over to where Ellie was petting a horse.

"You ever been riding Harry?" she asked.

"Nope, well not on a horse at least," he answered cryptically. It's not like he could explain flying on Dragons, Thestrals and Hypogriffs in the current company.

"You know how to ride?" He asked curiously, it's not like there were a lot of horses around these days that he knew of.

"Yeah, there was a soldier back in the zone, Winston. He taught me."

"Nice, maybe you will get to ride one while we are here," Harry replied with a smile.

They entered the plant properly where Joel decided to go with Tommy while they attempted to restart the turbines. Harry decided to stick with Ellie and go and get some food with Maria.

They had some military ration packs and they weren't too bad. They had been chatting with Maria for about ten minutes when a call came over the radio from the outer wall, bandits were attacking the plant. Harry looked at Ellie deciding what to do before coming to a decision, he gestured for Ellie to move closer to him.

"I'm going to confund Maria and go and help Tommy and Joel, are you going to be okay protecting Maria?"

Ellie looked like she wanted to protest, no doubt wanting to join in with the fighting, but she didn't want to leave Maria by herself or lead her into more trouble.

She nodded in the affirmative. Harry wandlessly confunded Maria and summoned Ellie's bow before handing it to her, "I'll put up some _notice-me-nots_ on the outside of the office, you see any bandits take them out, okay?"

Harry hugged her quickly, kissing her gently before leaving the office, he placed the _notice-me-nots_ before donning his cloak and concentrating on Joel's location.

Joel and Tommy along with some of the damn workers were crouched behind some machinery. Harry surveyed the situation, there were a couple of bandits on the same level and some higher up, he disapparated behind a guy crouched behind a barrier on the next level up. He silently cast a stunner before moving behind the next guy and doing the same.

Joel and Tommy had taken out the two down below and were cautiously walking up the stairs. Harry entered the nearby office, there were three guys in here, he cast a wide area stunner before exiting through the window and cautiously moving across the bridge. As he neared the far door it opened and six or seven guys came rushing though, he heard a shot from behind and moved to the side deciding what to do, one of the guys had lit a Molotov and raised it ready to throw in the direction of Joel who was taking cover behind a storage crate. Harry cast a stunner at him causing the Molotov to fall and ignite with a whoosh enveloping all the bandits. Leaving any survivors to Joel he concentrated on Ellie and _apparated_ back to her side. Maria was busy shooting bandits through the window of the office while Ellie had switched to her pistol and was doing the same. Harry whispered in Ellie's ear letting her know he was back. He _confunded_ Maria once again before removing his cloak and pulling out a pistol for appearance sake, before long the last bandit was down and Joel, Tommy and some others entered through the other door.

"Well that was exciting," Harry said while hugging Ellie close to him.

"Yeah, I fucking nailed some of them good," Ellie said her with a big smile.

"Well you are a badass," Harry grinned while gesturing for her to follow him. They retrieved the arrows as they were magical ones and would never break.

They wandered over to the rest of them, Maria was looking a bit out of sorts and Harry felt a bit guilty, but it was better than the alternative. Harry dispelled the _notice-me-nots_ on the office while the others were distracted.

They spent the next hour or so putting the plant back to rights and disposing of the bandit corpses. The few Harry had stunned were sent on their way sans any weapons or supplies and with a warning that next time they wouldn't be spared.

Eventually the five of them, Tommy, Maria, Joel, Ellie and himself had gathered in an office. Joel had already explained to Tommy about Ellie's condition and that they were trying to get to the Fireflies.

"The last I heard they were setup in a lab in Eastern Colorado University," Tommy said.

"Go, Big Horns," Joel replied with a grin.

"So how far are we talking?" Harry asked.

"I reckon about a weeks' worth of travel on horseback," replied Tommy after thinking for a minute, "we can spare a couple and some supplies to get you on your way."

Ellie looked gleeful at the thought of the Horses, Harry was trying to think of a way to tell them that the horses weren't needed without sounding suspicious. It meant he couldn't apparate them or maybe he could, but he didn't think it would be something animals would like particularly.

Tommy looked at Maria, they seemed to have one of those silent conversations that couples could do before he turned to Joel, "there's a place in Jackson for you, you know."

Joel looked surprised at the offer before nodding in reply.

"That goes for you two as well," Maria said looking at Ellie and Harry.

Harry was surprised at the offer but smiled in reply. Ellie looked extremely happy at the invite.

They chose some horses for the journey. Joel was riding one on his own while Harry and Ellie were going to share one seeing as they were both still quite small and the horse could easily handle their combined weight.

"Why don't you come to Jackson, have a meal. It will give you a chance to see the place and it's on the way." Maria suggested.

Joel looked at Ellie who nodded eagerly. Joel smiled not surprised in the least and accepted the offer. It only took them about twenty minutes on horseback to reach Jackson.

As soon as they got there Ellie grabbed Harry's hand and dragged him off to explore while Maria, Tommy and Joel went off to look at some supplies and organise some food.

"Look at this place Harry, isn't it great!" Ellie said looking around in wonder.

Harry himself was impressed. The town had sturdy walls with watchtowers and lighting on the perimeter. Houses were laid out in neat rows, none of the refuse that seemed to be commonplace elsewhere littered the streets, even the air smelt better. It showed what could be achieved if people worked together rather than being selfish and fighting each other.

"Yeah, it's the best I've seen since coming here. Is this what the quarantine zones are like?"

Ellie laughed in reply, "you're fucking joking, everything is a mess, there's rubbish everywhere, condemned buildings. The only difference from outside really is there isn't supposed to be any infected and there's soldiers everywhere."

"Hmm, you would think they would fix the places up," Harry gestured to a house they were passing where a few people were in the process of doing just that.

"Do, do you think we could come back here, I mean after," Ellie asked nervously.

"Yeah of course, if that's what you want to do," replied Harry.

Ellie smiled and flung herself at Harry who caught her in his arms before spinning around causing her to laugh. Harry held her close looking into her sparkling green eyes, "wherever you go, then so do I," he kissed her gently.

Ellie give him a happy smile before grabbing his hand and pulling him over to a nearby fenced area which contained more horses.

"So, when I asked you about riding horses earlier, what did you mean by not horses?" she asked curiously.

"Well, I've flown Hypogriffs, they're like half horse half eagle, then there are Thestrals which are like magical skeletal horses which only people who have seen death can see and lastly I flew on a Dragon while escaping from a Goblin Bank," Harry finished with a grin.

"You're fucking kidding me!" Ellie exclaimed.

"Nope, totally true," Harry smiled.

"Wow, your world sounds even crazier than this one."

They decided to stay the night in Jackson as it started to get dark by the time they had eaten. They had a fun time listening to Tommy and Joel tell stories of some of the trouble they would get into as kids.

That night Harry didn't sleep well, his sleep was disturbed by strange dreams, while he knew they were safe in Jackson he was wary that they weren't all under magical protections. Sighing he decided to get up, he put a _notice-me-not_ on the door of the room he was staying in just in case somebody decided to look in and donned his cloak. He concentrated and disapparated appearing moments later miles away in the spot he had took Ellie when they tried out the resurrection stone, something they hadn't attempted again since that night.

He conjured himself a simple chair and sat down, the briefest hint of the sun was just breaking over the horizon, fishing the stone out of his pouch he concentrated, opening his eyes he smiled seeing Sirius sitting there in his dog form.

"Hey, you old dog," Harry laughed watching the dog morph into his beloved godfather.

"Hey Harry. Missed your old dogfather!"

"Yeah. Just couldn't sleep and wanted to catch up," Harry shrugged.

"So, what's on your mind? How's that cute girl of yours?" Sirius said with a grin while sitting beside Harry.

"She's good, I mean things are going great if you don't count another prophecy, then we have infected and humans trying to kill us at every turn, but yeah. I think she's the one Sirius, I've never known anybody like her." Harry said with a smile.

"Just like James, he knew Lily was the only one for him, I guess Potter men and redheads strikes again," Sirius barked out a laugh. "So, what has got you worried?"

"I'm not sure Sirius, I just have this uneasy feeling, I thought it was just being in a strange place around people I don't know but thinking back I've just had this niggling feeling for the past week or so."

"All you can do pup is keep your girl safe and be on your toes, make use of whatever magic protections you need. Do what you have too, there's no ministry to get on your case from what you were saying," Sirius said being serious for once.

"I guess you're right. I just don't want people thinking I'm the answer to all their problems because of what I can do, I've had enough of being a saviour!"

"Time for me to go Harry, you should talk to Lily and James soon, they miss you too," Sirius said while standing up. Harry did the same giving his godfather a smile before replacing the stone in his pouch.

"So how do you reckon they will get the cure from me? Will it hurt?" Ellie asked Joel.

"Well, I reckon they will just take a bit of blood and do some tests, it won't hurt," he replied.

"Yeah we had shots at school, they sucked," Ellie said with a grimace.

They were at the entrance to the university; Harry was currently scouting ahead to see which way they needed to go. Ellie was astride the horse she had christened as Callus, Joel with no imagination at all had christened his horse Horse much to Harry's amusement.

The journey to the university had been quick with the horses and the weather while cold had stayed clear on the journey here.

Ellie's thoughts returned to Harry; he had been strange this week. When she asked him about it, he had assured her that he was fine, but she knew something was troubling him. He had been as affectionate as ever, even more so which reassured her that it wasn't their relationship which was the issue. Maybe it was just a bad time of year for him, she knew that he had a lot of disturbing memories from the war he was involved in.

Harry reappeared a bit away from them, they had found out early on that the horses got spooked if he appeared close.

"Whole place seems deserted apart from some infected in some of the dorms and some monkeys in the quad," Harry stated as he approached.

"Well that isn't good, I guess we will have to search the labs for clues to whereabouts they are," Joel said with a frown.

Ellie sighed, she really thought they would find the Fireflies here, she just wanted this over with so they could return to Jackson and have a life.

Harry boosted himself up behind Elle and directed her and Joel on the direction to take, they saw signs everywhere of previous occupation, barriers were setup and gates blocked the way, a trivial matter to overcome with Harry's help. They got off the horses in front of the main entrance, Harry just touched Ellie and Joel and transported them into the foyer.

It took them an hour to slowly work their way floor by floor up the building, as they got higher up, they got more signs of the Fireflies occupation, medical equipment and files were stacked as if ready for transportation. There were no corpses or other signs of fighting, just empty rooms and hallways.

Harry had scanned the building and reported some small life signs on the upper floor which he reckoned were monkeys. Eventually they came to a curtained off area which lead into a room containing monkeys which scattered as they entered and empty cages. Obviously, they had been running tests here, they had found x-rays of fungal growths in humans and recordings detailing trials they had undertook.

They eventually came to an office with a dead Firefly and a message which eventually revealed that the Fireflies had moved to Salt Lake City, they were discussing travelling there when Joel spotted flashlights across from them before bullets pierced the windows. Joel pulled Ellie and Harry down below cover.

"Stay here, I'm going to go scout them out," Harry said pulling on his cloak. He thrust his hand at the door putting a strong repelling charm on it before disapparating across to the other side of the building. There were men everywhere, a lot carried axes and other weapons, but some also had firearms. They seemed to be well organised, they were using flares as indicators of the routes to take. Seeing enough Harry returned to Ellie and Joel.

"There's a lot of them, no idea what they're after but I think the best idea is just to leave," Harry stated.

Ellie and Joel both agreed, concentrating Harry focused on the horses and with a whisper they were gone. There was a guy trying to pull the horses along who were stubbornly refusing to move, Joel swiftly clocked him with the butt of his pistol knocking him out. Making haste they quickly left the area in case more enemies were around.

They had travelled a couple of miles from the university and the sky was darkening with sleet starting to chill the air. They quickly decided to find somewhere to bed down for the night, it was Ellie who spotted a mall off to their left and they quickly made for it.

They found a store which seemed mostly intact, it was glass fronted but that wasn't really a problem where Harry was concerned, he quickly cast repelling charms on the outside and they brought the horses inside, he also cast some warming charms to take the chill out of the air.

Quickly he set up the tent and then the ward stones, he told Ellie and Joel he would be back soon after he checked out the area.

"This fucking sucks, I thought we would be done today," Ellie said gloomily.

"Yeah it's not ideal. Travelling through winter is not something I would normally undertake, done it before and it's hard. Of course, Harry makes a lot of things possible which weren't before," Joel said.

"Yeah, I suppose. I was just looking forward to going back to Jackson."

"Huh, you really liked it there?"

"Well yeah, I've never really had a home before, just different schools. It will be awesome to live in a proper house like people used to."

Joel thought back to the last time he lived in a house, a real house. It was with Sarah, he found himself thinking of those days more and more these days. Himself Ellie and Harry had never really discussed what they would do when they returned to Jackson, obviously those two would stick together no matter what, he wondered if they would want him to stick around. At one time that would have filled him with dread, but he was fond of the two of them now after spending day after day with them.

"You okay there Joel, you seemed in a world of your own?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah sorry, I was just thinking about Jackson, I err guess you and Harry will be looking for a place for yourselves."

"Well I was hoping you would want to share a place as well," Ellie said hopefully.

Joel give her a nod and a smile causing a smile to break out onto her face.

"Just you wait, it will be awesome, and I won't annoy you, well too much!" She said with a grin.

It was then that Harry entered the tent and waved his hand causing warmth to radiate throughout the room and the kettle to float onto the hob and start whistling.

"Well the mall seems pretty wrecked and empty, there was some heat signatures, but I reckon they were infected, they cannot get to us here anyway," Harry said moving to the counter and removing mugs from the rack. Before long he had made coffee for himself and Joel and hot chocolate for Ellie. She had tried coffee but judged it too be disgusting much to Joel's amusement.

"So, I reckon we have two options, we can either return to Jackson and wait out the winter which might take months depending on how severe it is or we can attempt to head to Salt Lake City, the first option we loose nothing but time, the second we may be able to reach Salt Lake City before the weather turns really bad or we may end up snowed in somewhere."

"I really want to go to Jackson, but I want this to be over with too," said Ellie, "what about you Harry."

"I think you're forgetting something; we've been to Jackson before so if need be, I can get us back there in seconds," Harry said with a smirk at the looks on their faces.

"Huh, I never thought about that," Ellie said with a smile.

"Okay then, we go onto Salt Lake City, if it gets to be too bad weather wise, we return to Jackson then?" said Joel looking at Harry then Ellie. Both gave resounding nods in the affirmative.

They ended up spending two days in the mall after the weather turned bad overnight, the third day dawned bright and early though and even though it had been snowing quite heavily at some points only a slight layer covered the ground. They all decided today they would move on. Looking at the map Joel saw a resort around thirty miles away which would be a suitable stop on the way.

The day stayed clear and they made good time. At lunchtime they decided to stop and warm up, Harry erected the tent and they all trudged in glad for a break. Within moments they were all sat around the table with steaming bowls of stew that Harry had prepared the day before using some freshly caught rabbits and vegetables from Jackson.

"I can't believe I got fired from the calendar factory. All I did was take a day off." Ellie said with a grin running her finger down the page on her pun book.

Harry and Joel both groaned in amusement, every so often she would whip out that book and according to Joel torture them with puns. Harry found them amusing but would admit a lot of them were groan worthy.

"I bought a dictionary and when I got home, I realized all the pages were blank; I have no words for how angry I am." Ellie broke up laughing actually snorting this time which caused Harry to crack up and even Joel was smirking.

"You know, I think they are getting worse," Joel muttered.

Ellie just looked at him and cracked up laughing again much to his amusement. After an hour they were all feeling warm and refreshed again and were ready to resume their journey.

A few hours later they were all eagerly looking forward to stopping again, as the afternoon drew on the sky darkened and snow flurries started up again, Joel reckoned they had less than ten miles to go before they would hit the resort he saw on the map this morning. They arrived just before nightfall, there were several cabins and businesses scattered alongside a lake, it was getting too dark to explore so they just went to the closest cabin, Harry setup the usual repelling charms and the ward stones and pitched the tent.

"I'm first for the bath," Ellie said darting to the bathroom. Harry started off the kettle while casting some warming charms to heat up the air. The inbuilt charms in the tent would keep the temperature constant for hours.

Harry and Joel sat around the table looking over the map. Joel had a notepad and was making calculations.

"Well I reckon if we can average twenty-five to thirty miles a day, we should reach Salt Lake City in around eighteen days," Joel said closing his notebook.

"Hopefully the weather holds out, it was okay today apart from when it started getting really cold," Harry responded.

Once again Harry woke up early after having disturbed sleep. He made himself some coffee and exited the tent, it was still dark outside the only light being from the moonlight. He slowly sipped his coffee while watching the light reflect off the lake water. The closer they were getting to Salt Lake City the more apprehensive he was getting, and it was driving him crazy. He thought he had been quite successful at hiding it from Joel and Ellie. There wasn't really anything concrete he could tell them; it was just an uneasy feeling especially during the night.

Suddenly a light appeared hovering over the lake and it slowly started drifting towards the shore, to Harry it looked almost like a formless patronus. He left the porch of the cabin he was standing on and cautiously made his way down to the shore, the light was still slowly travelling in his direction but appeared to be growing in size, he realised then that it was heading directly towards him and slowed down, he changed his direction just to be sure and the light altered its trajectory. He didn't sense any danger and he had developed a six sense when it came to magic, he slowed down before stopping, the light steadily continued towards him.

Meanwhile Joel had gotten up for the day, he noticed the kettle was hot and there was a smell of coffee in the air meaning Harry was up and about but there was no sign of him in the tent. Curious Joel exited the tent, straight away he noticed the light on the shore and Harry standing there, suddenly there was a blinding flash, Joel winced in pain. Slowly his vision returned as his eyes adjusted to the darkness again. Of the light and Harry there was no sign.


	10. Chapter 10

_Sorry for the delay with this chapter. Due to the ongoing crisis I've been extremely busy for the last month, eventually found some time to complete this chapter and I hope to have the next one out with a week or so, I hope you all stay safe_

Harry groaned blinking away the sting from his eyes caused by the light, slowly his vision returned to normal. He looked around in shock, he was back, back where it all started. The arch stood in front of him imposing as ever although unlike before he heard no whispers and the veil itself was completely still.

His books were still laid out as they had been months previously, in fact nothing look disturbed at all. Harry couldn't understand it, how had he come back here and when exactly was now. He reached inside and tried to pull on the thread which lead him back to Ellie, nothing. He tried with the location charm on Joel with the same results.

Looking around Harry spotted what he most wanted, the book he had found in Grimmauld Place describing the veil. He picked it up and rapidly flicked through before finding what he was after. The spell which had enabled him to activate the veil and travel to that alternate dimension. Now more than ever he was convinced the veil or veils if indeed there were more of them like he suspected were doorways between alternate realities and not a doorway to the afterlife as they had been thought of.

His thoughts were all over the place, he never thought he would return to his own world again and at one time he would never even consider what he was now contemplating. The thought of being without Ellie was not something he could even fathom. Even Joel had become like a favoured Uncle, different from his relationship with Sirius but similar in some ways. That thought just brought up more confusion, for not the first time he wondered if the resurrection stone actually brought forth the spirits of the dead or were they just manifestations of the person who wielded the stone, if in fact there were an infinite number of universes then it followed there were infinite versions of each person, Harry decided he was just confusing himself. He needed to return to Grimmauld and make plans.

It was strange travelling through the ministry, he received nods and hellos from various people he knew. Although quieter on the weekends there were still plenty of people about. He could feel the magic in the air, something he had never noticed before. Stepping out into the bright light he breathed in, the air was fresh and warm, so unlike what he had experienced just an hour ago. Concentrating on Grimmauld Place he appeared on the front doorstep, quickly entering he called for Kreacher.

"Yes, Mr Potter Sir, you called for Kreacher," the old elf said while bowing low.

"Hey Kreacher, have you seen me today?"

"Yes Sir, Kreacher brought you breakfast," the Elf answered looking at him curiously.

"Oh yeah, that's right. Thanks, Kreacher, you can go," Harry responded heading for the stairs.

It was as he thought, very little time had passed here even though he had been in the alternative world for months, he ascended to the study on the second floor flopping down into the seat in front of the desk. He pulled a parchment and quill towards himself. If he was going to do what he intended, then he wanted to leave letters for Hermione and Ron. Ideally, he would have wanted to see them, but he only had a few short hours to do what he wanted before the Ministry would be locked down for the night and security had been increased a lot since the Ministry was restructured.

He spent some time writing out what he wanted to say, he also wrote out a will to lodge with the bank then he started a list of what he wanted to take with him.

Calling Kreacher he sent him off to Diagon Alley with the first list. He took the second one himself and visited the bank first. Purchasing a storage trunk from the goblins he filled it with Galleons, he converted some into a considerable amount of non-magical notes then paid for his will to be witnessed and lodged with the bank.

He wasn't sure if he would be able to repeat the process and even if he could how he could stop himself being forced back to this reality. He wished he had more time to study the book further but he would just have to ensure that he kept a hold of it this time. He had no issues carrying his belongings previously so he would take advantage of the fact.

Three hours later Harry was back at Grimmauld place with trunks scattered around him. He had packed anything he could think of that may be of use to him. He had gone through and collected a lot of books from the library, he had Kreature pick up lots of different potion ingredients which were now in stasis, spare cauldrons of different types, a selection of books on various topics from Flourish and Blotts and lots of food in stasis, he had one more stop to make before going back to the Ministry.

"Kreacher could you shrink these down for me and await my call from the Ministry please."

"Certainly, Master Potter," Kreature replied snapping his fingers causing the trunks to shrink and zoom into a pile.

Harry remembered seeing one of those outdoor survival type places on the non-magical side of Charing Cross Road, he pulled on his cloak visualising where he needed to be. He wasn't sure what a lot of the equipment the shop contained was but his first stop was the clothing aisles. He had to guess on the sizes for Ellie and Joel but anything could be magically resized. He got them each several sets of thermal underwear, flannel shirts and winter jackets, socks, gloves and hats. He purchased sturdy hiking boots, he could apply charms later to make them fit well, one of the books he had made sure to pack was a gift from Hermione who said a bachelor like him needed to be able to perform common household charms and not rely on Kreature to do everything, Harry remembered with humour Ron rolling his eyes behind Hermione and making faces while he tried to keep a straight face during her speech, it had a section dedicated to clothing and footwear. He also grabbed a couple of combat knives, sharpening stones, portable stoves, ropes, sleeping bags, ignitors, waterproof matches and anything else he thought could be useful.

Once he paid for his purchases, he had to _confund_ the shopkeeper so he could shrink down his purchases, he had got a bit carried away but it was all gear that would be really useful to them even if they returned to Jackson, it's not like there was a lot of manufacturing going on in that world. He was just about to head back into the Ministry when he saw something that made him pause, across the way was a confectionary store, Harry knew if he returned without chocolate, he would never hear the end of it so diverted across and made some purchases.

Harry made his way through the atrium nodding hello to the guard on the desk who waved him through without hardly a second thought. He entered the lifts and before long he was standing at the entrance to the Department of Mysteries. He presented his wand which granted him admittance and made his way through to the Veil room. Once there he called Kreature to him who appeared with a pop, a snap of his fingers later and a small pile of trunks neatly arranged themselves on a table.

Harry opened up his moleskins pouch and levitated them in to join the purchases he had made earlier that day. Kneeling down next to Kreature he regarded the old Elf thinking of how to word things. In the end he sent him to Andromeda's, he didn't want him wasting away in Grimmauld Place if he never returned.

Harry double checked that he had everything he needed. He downed a pepper up potion and opened the book to the ritual he had used previously. Everything proceeded exactly as before, this time though he fought on to continue to the end of the ritual, his last thought before darkness claimed him of Ellie.

Ellie shivered pulling the collar of her coat closed trying to stop the wind which seemed to cut through to her very bones. She was about to call it for the night, she had been out here for hours and could barely feel her feet anymore. She trudged her way back to Callus who was standing patiently tethered to a tree. She had gotten two rabbits, not a lot to show for the amount of time she had spent out here, mounting Callus she directed him back towards the cabin. She kept an eye out warily for any bandits, they hadn't seen any for weeks but ever since Joel had been shot, she was a lot more cautious. Ever since that day a month ago when Harry had disappeared, all the magical protections he had placed on them seemed to have failed as Joel found out when he was shot in the leg while out hunting.

Joel had managed to make his way back to the cabin where luckily the magical tent still functioned and Ellie had managed to patch him up with the limited medical training she had, the bullet had passed straight through and they had some basic medical supplies from Jackson. Unfortunately, it looked like it may have become infected as Joel was still unable to put weight on it and it was swollen.

Opening the garage door Ellie lead Callus inside, Horse snorted before ignoring them, she removed the tackle from Callus and checked that he had fresh water before heading down the stairs to where they had setup the tent. Joel had insisted as the main floor was too open if anybody happened to be passing. Entering the tent Joel was laid out on the couch, a book flat on his chest. He must have fallen asleep while reading. Quietly she made her way into the kitchen area and placed the rabbits in the cold storage, she would leave Joel to dress them. It would give him something to do and while she could do it the idea still made her squirm.

Ellie made her way into the bathroom, while the inside of the tent wasn't exactly warm it was a lot higher temperature than the freezing outdoors. She turned on the hot water tap on the bath, pleased to see the steam rising from the hot water as the tub slowly filled. Harry had explained to her about permanent enchantments and runes and various other magical ideas, she understood mostly what he was trying to say. She just hoped that the enchantments on the tents didn't fail before Harry returned. If he returned, she thought sadly to herself. While she held on to the hope that he would come back, each day that passed a little bit of that hope disappeared.

Ellie undressed and got into the bath, sighing as the hot water eased her aching muscles and drove out the cold, slowly her eyes closed the fatigue she had trying to stave off all day finally overcoming her. She awoke with a start not sure what had caused her to jolt awake. The water was still warm so she couldn't have been asleep for long, she listened but there were no sounds coming from outside the door. Frowning she closed her eyes again before realising what was different, her whole body tingled like when Harry held her. A smile appeared on her face, she didn't know how she knew but she would bet her life on it, Harry was returning to her somehow.

Joel was getting worse of that Ellie was sure. His leg wound was a sickly purple and swollen, worse the wound smelt of sickness. She knew that she needed to get him medication and soon. Thinking back to when she used to help stitch up soldiers at the prepatory school she knew only antibiotics would help in this situation. The problem was she had idea of how to obtain any. All the pharmacies had long since been raided, only the military had ready supplies of them but even if she knew where the nearest military zone was, she had no illusions she would be able to sneak in and out and obtain what she needed.

She hated the idea of leaving him, but their food reserves were practically at zero. She needed to go out hunting and try scavenging the buildings she came across in the house she could find some medication for Joel. She wasn't the praying sort, but she would try anything, she prayed that Joel would pull through and that Harry would return to them soon.

Heading upstairs she greeted Callus and Horse before lifting up Callus's saddle, heaving it into place and fastening the tackle. She was wrapped up as warm as she could be without restricting her movements, but she still shivered when she opened the garage and an icy wind blew through, already chilling her to the bone. She took the reins and guided Callus outside before closing the door and slowly heaving herself up into the saddle. Previously she had headed uphill to the forests that surrounded the small housing area on all sides, this time though she guided Callus into the nearby wooded areas as she didn't want to go too far away from Joel and there might be places to search nearby.

She had just took down a rabbit, it was a bit on the lean side and wouldn't make much of a meal but it was a start, she had just tied it to the saddle when the sound of breaking twigs caused her to look around in surprise, there just at the treeline stood a stag, if she could bring it down it would keep her and Joel fed for weeks meaning she could concentrate on getting the medication he needed. She threw the reins over a nearby tree, she would have to do this stealthily and Callus would only end up spooking the stag.

Ellie trudged up the hill in exhaustion following the trail of blood which splattered the glistening snow. For over an hour she had stealthily tracked the stag, it had taken two arrows so far and they barely seemed to slow it down. Ellie jumped over a fence following the trail and as she crested a hill there below how was industrial buildings of some sort, keeping quiet she dropped down silently, she kept an arrow notched ready just in case and cursed herself for not bringing her gun. Slowly she crept along noticing the spacing between the blood splatters was less and there seemed to be a lot more if it, it looked like the stag was eventually slowing down, she crept though some sort of outbuilding, the whole area made he uneasy but she kept going forward, exiting she spotted the stag lying on its side, the eyes glazed over. She moved closer, there was no way she would be able to move it without Callus, she would have to scout around to find some way to bring him here. She couldn't bring him the route she had taken as the drop-off would be too high for him. A crack of a branch disturbed her thinking and she spun around, lifting the bow and drawing the string back.

"Who's there? Come out!" Ellie called out keeping the arrow pointed in the direction she thought the sound had come from.

A man maybe in his forties and another younger one stepped out from behind some nearby trees. Ellie raised the bow in warning pointing it at the elder man. Something about them didn't seem right and she fought to keep any sign of fear from her appearance.

"Hello, we just want to take," said the older man.

Ellie wasn't going to take any chances; her instincts were telling here these men couldn't be trusted.

"Any sudden moves and I put one right between your eyes," she said keeping the arrow aimed at the older man. "Ditto for buddy-boy other there," Ellie said swinging the bow in his direction.

"What do you want?" she once again aimed at the older man, noticing the rifle slung over his shoulder. The younger one kept his arms held out to the side; she couldn't see any weapons on him, but he could still have one concealed on him.

"Um, my name's David, this here's my friend. James," the older man spoke gesturing to his younger companion.

"We're from a larger group – women, children – we're all very, very hungry."

"So am I," Ellie replied, "women and children, all very hungry too." She didn't like the vibes she was getting here, and she didn't want them to know it was only herself and Joel out here.

Ellie was starting to panic, her arms were getting tired holding the bow under tension for so long, she just wanted them to go away but they didn't seem to get the hint and were still talking, she barely paid attention to what they were saying, trying to figure out how she could get out of this situation without giving up the stag she had worked so hard for when the one calling himself David started talking about a trade.

Before she could stop herself, she blurted out how she needed medicine, she would give them the whole stag if she could get her hands on some antibiotics. David sent James off to their camp to return with some medication or so he said. She still didn't trust them.

What followed next was the most stressful couple of hours of her whole young life. Taking shelter from the cold they were attacked by hordes of infected. Luckily, she had taken the rifle from David as soon as James had left. As it turned out he had a pistol concealed which was lucky for her as if he didn't, she guessed she would have died when a clicker rushed her after she froze up. They ended up having to retreat further and further into the large buildings. There were Clickers everywhere so these must have been infected a long time and just stayed dormant waiting for some unsuspecting victims to stumble upon them.

She even ended up fighting a Bloater at one stage. It took her a lot longer to deal with it than the time Harry had fought one in Bill's town. Eventually though it seemed they had dealt with all the infected in the immediate area.

They returned to the area that they had been waiting, David attempted to make small talk but every time he talked, she had to stop herself from cringing, there was something about him which just set her nerves on edge. Eventually James returned with the promised medicine. She slowly made her way back to Callus before setting off back to the house where Joel was. She had never been so relieved to see the place. She guided Callus inside before hurrying down the stairs into the tent, she entered the room where Joel was sleeping, he hadn't even gotten out of bed today, his skin was pale and clammy. Pulling down the covers she pulled up his pants, his leg was very swollen and discoloured. Reading the instructions on the vial of penicillin she used the syringe to draw up the required amount, she pulled out a disinfectant wipe from the first aid kit before gently wiping where she needed to inject. pushing out the excess air from the syringe as she had seen the nurses at the school do she braced herself before pushing the needle into the area near the wound, Joel whimpered but didn't awaken, depressing the plunger she injected him before using another wipe to mop up the trickle of blood before covering it with a plaster and covering Joel back up. Now all she could was wait and hoped that it would have a positive effect.

Later on that night she repeated the process, Ellie tried to hold back the tears which were threatening to fall, she lay down beside Joel, softly placing a hand on his chest feeling the rise and fall assuring herself that he was still okay. She didn't want to be buy herself closed her eyes and drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

The next morning, she woke up a bit disorientated before realising where she was, she looked over at Joel. Some of the colour had returned to his complexion, laying the back of her hand on his brow his skin was no longer clammy and seemed to be a normal temperature. Checking the vial, she judged it still had two more doses so decided to give him another shot before leaving to try and find more food.

Exiting the tent, it took her a moment to realise that she could hear voices, slowly she crept up the stairs and over to a window. Further down the street three men were huddled together talking in low voices. She had no doubt these were David's men; they must have tracked her back to this area. She took a deep breath calming herself down trying to think of a course of action. She had to lead them away from this area, maybe they wouldn't be able to see the tent but she couldn't take that chance, Joel was in no position to help her and if they got trapped in that basement there would be no way of escaping.

Ellie crawled backwards towards the garage, standing up when she was sure she couldn't be viewed from outside, the horses whinnied at her appearance, she tried to shush them. Quickly saddling Callus she opened the garage door as quietly as she could, mounting him she nudged him with her knees and he slowly started moving, suddenly a shout rang out as a man appeared on her left making a grab for her, she kicked into Callus's sides causing the horse to break into a gallop, other men were approaching her now from the surrounding buildings some trying to make a grab for her. She weaved her way down the street, using abandoned vehicles to stop the men grabbing her. She had made it all the way down the street and was rapidly pulling away from the men when a shot rang out, Callus cried out in pain before she was flung off him. She hit the ground groaning in pain before darkness claimed her the last thing she saw was Callus lying in a pool of his own blood.

Ellie groaned; she ached all over. Suddenly the events of earlier came back to her, she opened her eyes. She was in some sort of caged off area, struggling to her feet she pushed against the door, but a heavy chain and padlock kept it closed. She sat back down her chest aching, each breath causing a sharp pain in her side.

She had no idea how long she had been here or even where here was. She knew she needed to find some way of escape; she had no idea what these people wanted with her, but it couldn't be anything good. Tears pooled in her eyes before falling onto her cheeks, she was afraid, afraid for herself, for Joel and for Harry. She wiped at her eyes and cheeks angrily. A look of determination came to her face, she was going to escape from here and her, Harry and Joel would be reunited, she was sure of it she just had to find some way to make that happen.

Harry groaned rubbing at his eyes flinching at the harsh sunlight. Sitting up he took in his surroundings; he was in a forest of some sorts there were trees as far as he could see, and snow covered the ground. Getting to his feet he waved his hand drying out his clothes before concentrating on the thread that linked him to Ellie, a smile graced his face as with a whisper of displaced air he disapparated to re-appear in some sort of town, the smile fell from his face as he took in the burning building in front of him, Ellie was in there. Striding forward he gestured with his hand causing the doorway to explode outwards flinging burning timbers in all directions, Harry didn't even flinch, a golden dome flickering into existence as he entered the building, glancing around he spotted a man astride someone who could only be Ellie, with a growl he shot out a stunner at him before flinging his hand to the side, the stranger smashed into a wall before crumpling into a heap.

Harry fell to his kneels beside Ellie, not even noticing the shards of glass that pierced his legs. Ellie was unmoving, placing his head on her chest there was no movement, Harry sat up trying not to panic, he hovered his hand over her chest willing his magic forwards. A golden glow surrounded his hand before enveloping Ellie, suddenly she sat up with a gasp, spotting Harry she flung herself into his arms sobbing. Harry ran his hands up and down her back while whispering comforting words into her ear, it took a few minutes before she was composed enough to pull back and look at him, she raised a hand gently holding his cheek.

"You're really here, oh Harry," she broke down sobbing once more.

"Sssh, it's okay Ellie, I'm back, nothing will ever take me from you again. I've made sure of it," he said kissing her head.

She moved her head to the side so she could look him in the eyes, "do you really mean it?" she asked with a hint of desperation.

"Yes Ellie, I'm yours forever if you'll have me," he gave her his crooked grin.

The next thing he knew Ellie was kissing him and he knew he was home.

"As much as I'm enjoying this we need to get out of here," Harry said while gesturing to the fire which was spreading at a much faster pace now, "what the hell happened and who is that piece of shit?" Harry said gesturing to the man crumpled beneath the wall.

Ellie looked over at the man instantly recognising him as her tormentor, she started shaking before turning back to Harry, "he tried to, to," she broke down crying again. Harry gathered her into his arms, trying to contain his roiling emotions for Ellie's sake. He stood up with her in his arms the golden shield surrounding him flaring in response to falling embers and the heat enveloping the room. With a gesture Ellie was asleep in his arms. Keeping her held with one hand he used the other to pick up the man before flinging him at the wall, a sticking charm holding him in place, he used an overpowered reviving spell causing the man to open his eyes.

The man looked around wildly before noticing Harry holding Ellie. This was the last coherent thought he had before pain unlike anything he had ever felt overtook him.

Harry only took seconds to rip through the man's mind before rage overtook him. He cast an overpowered cutting charm at the mans groin, it was so powerful that it went clean through the man and the wall behind him, even though the man had lost his legs and genitalia he kept screaming, the powerful _rennervate_ which Harry used overpowering the body's ability to shut down. With a last wave of his hand Harry cast an _incendio_ cauterising the man's wounds before letting him fall from the wall to the floor.

With a last look of disgust Harry's eyes pulsed with power before he and Ellie disappeared in a swirl of flames and smoke.


	11. Chapter 11

Harry sighed. He wished he had spent more time on occlumency. Running through the exercises to clear his mind once more he looked down at Ellie who was currently asleep against his side. She whimpered in her sleep again and Harry gently stroked her head causing her to relax again. She barely lasted twenty minutes in her own bed before seeking Harry out, seeing the look on her face Harry didn't have the will to send her back to her own bed and instead moved over and lifted up the covers. It only took two minutes before exhaustion overtook her and she was in a deep sleep after Harry cast a sleeping spell on her. She hadn't said much about what transpired over the time he had been gone apart from how Joel came to be injured and how she ended up captured.

Once they had returned to the tent Harry had checked Ellie over, healing some cuts and bruises before giving her a calming potion and trying not to snigger at the disgusted face she made after drinking it. He then told her to relax in the bath while he took care of Joel. Some quick healing took care out of the bullet wound and some potions had him back to full health quickly. He was a bit disgruntled when Harry insisted that he still needed to let his body rest and forced a sleeping potion on him, but he eventually took it. Funnily enough his opinion of the taste was the same as Ellies just with more swearing, which was unusual enough where Joel was concerned. He was quite old fashioned in some respects.

Harry made some food whilst Ellie was in the bath, she must have been hungry, but she seemed to have no appetite. She did make some effort after Harry pulled out a huge bar of chocolate saying she could have it if she ate some dinner. She glared at him before giving in much to Harry's amusement.

Afterwards they sat on the couch, trying to keep things light Harry told her what had happened to him and showed her some of the supplies he had brought back with him, she rewarded him by straddling his lap and kissing him for several minutes leaving Harry with a stupid grin on his face for a while, eventually after promising Ellie that he was going nowhere and that she only had to call and he would be there they retired for the night.

Which was what lead to Harry wishing he had better occlumency. Harry considered himself a decent person, while he had his faults he always tried to show consideration to others and treat them how he wanted to be treated. Before today there was only two occasions where he considered he had acted against his morals, the first when Bellatrix killed Sirius and he cast the _cruciatus curse_ at her while running through the ministry, the second when they were ambushed in the town which he ended up burning to the ground, killing their attackers. Once again he thought back to the similarities between himself and Tom Riddle, both orphaned, both brought up in abusive homes, he knew he had a darkness inside himself, one that he suppressed as much as possible, you don't endure the type of childhood he had without mental scars. He should have just killed Ellie's attacker today, but he wanted to hurt him, he wanted him to suffer for what he did and what he was planning to do to her. He was worried what would happen if somebody managed to hurt Ellie, his powers were growing he knew that, he didn't know why but he could tell when he cast spells, where before he could feel a pull on his magic now there was no effort at all required to cast. He knew that he had the potential before to be more powerful than Dumbledore and Riddle, he just lacked the vast experience they both had, he wondered again if it was to do with the prophecy of the centaurs.

His thoughts were going around in circles, once again he started on his calming exercises. After ten minutes his breathing evened out and he fell asleep. A faint golden glow surrounded himself and Ellie as they slept.

The next morning Harry woke up refreshed even though it had taken him hours to eventually fall asleep. Ellie was still by his side an arm thrown across his chest and a small smile on her face. She looked so relaxed, so beautiful it stole his breath away for a moment. Smiling he tilted his head down placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Ten more minutes," she grumbled still mostly asleep.

Even those few short hours they were apart he had missed her, worried that he wouldn't be able to return to her. Now all he wanted to do was complete their journey so that they could start building a life together. Slowly he rolled Ellie away from him causing her to groan before he rolled her back into the pillow he had been using and covered her back up. He knew that Joel hadn't ate for days and even with the strengthening potions he would still be hungry.

Harry made his way into the kitchen area, pulling out some of the shrunken chests from his pouch he enlarged them and started putting away some of the food stuffs he had brought with him. Lighting the stove, he waved his hand causing food stuffs to start flying around into pans. Next he made a pot of coffee, before long the smell of cooking and coffee had caused Joel to stroll into the kitchen.

"Morning Harry," he greeted as Harry placed a plate full of bacon, egg, tomatoes and sausages followed be a steaming mug of coffee.

"How you feeling today Joel? Any lingering soreness? Sickness?" Harry enquired.

"They may have tasted foul but whatever was in those potions you gave me worked wonders, I feel better than I have done in years," Joel replied.

"Glad to hear it, some of the potions use the patient's own magic to heal them so I have to imbue them with some of my magic in the hope it would be enough," Harry said sitting at the table with his own breakfast and coffee.

"I didn't want to mention it last night since you were so ill, but Ellie's been through a rough time," Harry said and explained to Joel what he had found upon arriving back.

"Did you deal with him?" Joel asked with a growl looking like he was all for grabbing his weapons and going to teach the bastard a lesson.

"Well I threw a cutting spell at him, I was a bit angry, so it was overpowered a bit," Harry said with a grimace.

"What happened," Joel prompted Harry to continue.

"Well I aimed at his groin and it went straight through him, it cut of everything below his hips."

"You mean .."

"Yeah, he won't be terrorising any girls again."

"Damn Harry, remind me never to annoy you. So how did he survive then?" Joel asked.

"I cauterised the wound, but he won't survive for long either way, he will probably take himself out if something else doesn't get to him first."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, what goes into the body has to come out, he doesn't have any way for that to happen now."

"Oh …"

"Yeah, I cannot imagine it will be a pleasant way to die, not that he deserves any mercy. I wonder if I should have killed him outright, it's not right to want people to suffer but he hurt Ellie and I just can't make myself regret it." Harry looked up to see Ellie standing at the entrance to the room, tear tracks down her cheeks, she ran over to Harry and wrapped her arms around him before pulling back and kissing him, by the time she was finished they were both out of breath.

"Morning to you too Ellie," Joel said with a smirk while Ellie flamed red, having forgotten all about Joel sitting there while she was intent on thanking Harry.

Harry summoned the plate of chocolate pancakes he had made especially for Ellie and some fresh orange juice; thankful he didn't have to stand up to retrieve them.

She gave him a beaming smile before starting to eat her breakfast while chatting away to Joel and Harry. He had to admire her resilience while she had a rough day yesterday, he could see she was trying to put it behind her and just be thankful that everything turned out all right in the end.

Joel thanked Ellie for saving his life and praised how capable she had become in such a short time, from a naïve girl who hadn't set foot out of a quarantine zone into who she was now a brave resourceful young woman.

Ellie give Joel a beaming smile before getting up and giving him a hug, Joel seemed startled at first before wrapping his arms around her returning the embrace. A smile came to Harry's face, he knew Joel was still hurting with unresolved pain, he carried it around him like a wall. Little by little Ellie was chipping away at it though. She needed a father figure in her life, and she had picked Joel, he would just have to accept the fact, she was stubborn and wouldn't give up on him.

The rest of the morning they just spent in the tent, Harry pulling out chest after chest filled with supplies, even after all Joel and Ellie had seen of magic it still astounded them. Joel accepted his new clothing and boots and with a few quick charms from Harry they fit him perfectly.

Ellie decided she had to try on each piece of clothing he had got for her and asked his opinion on each one. Her favourite turned out to be a black pair of cargo pants and a red fleece which greatly resembled one of Joel's shirts. He then spent an hour casting charms on the clothing from the _Household Book of Spells volume III_ which would keep them in good condition as well as repelling rain and dirt to some degree.

Once they got all the practical things out of the way including the route which would continue their journey Harry pulled out a small broom and placed it on the table before looking at Ellie, "you know I away said I wish I could of taken you flying?" he said with a smirk, waving his hand and enlarging the broom to full size.

Ellie's eyes lit up with glee, "really? Can we go now," she said bouncing in her seat with excitement.

"Sure, come on let's go outside."

They gathered outside, Harry held his hand up, causing a pulse of light to rapidly spread out as far as the eye could see.

"What was that Harry?" said Joel with a curious look.

"A revealing spell, I wanted to make sure there weren't any humans around. You ready Ellie?"

Ellie nodded. Harry let go of the broom which hovered at waist level, he mounted it then told Ellie to sit behind him and grab onto him tight.

"You might want to move back a bit Joel," Harry said with a smirk before the broom and its passengers shot off from the ground causing Joel to fall onto his backside.

"That damn kid," he growled before trying to spot them. There, what at first, he took to be a bird rapidly became louder as it flashed down the street before rising high into the air once again, Ellie's shrieks of either laughter or terror trailing off the higher they went.

Ellie cautiously opened her eyes as she felt their speed drop and locked around in amazement, she didn't know how high they were, but she could see for miles in either direction, small wisps of clouds floated past them.

"You okay Ellie," came Harry's voice from in front of her.

"Yeah, apart from shitting my pants," came her sarcastic reply followed by a snigger from Harry.

"So, you used to do this at school?" she asked.

"Yep, I liked Quidditch which is the sport we played on brooms but even more I just loved flying, I always felt so free in the air as if I left all my problems behind on the ground."

Ellie hugged him tightly as they gracefully floated in lazy circles towards the ground before coming to land in front of Joel.

Ellie clambered off on shaky legs although she had a big smile on her face, her eyes sparkling with delight, "Joel you have to try it man, it's totally awesome," she said.

Joel looked dubious but Harry insisted he had to try it at least once. Handing off his guns to Ellie, he didn't want to chance them falling and getting lost he got on behind Harry.

"You can either hold the broom shaft or my shoulders, but you won't fall off," Harry told him, "there are charms to prevent that."

Joel smirked, "I guess you forgot to tell Ellie that."

"Oh right, my bad," Harry laughed, "you ready?"

The broom rocketed forward but strangely Joel didn't feel any inertia or even wind which he expected. He asked Harry about this who explained that while this was classed as a sports broom it also incorporated some of the features of the more luxurious brooms, like inertial dampening, wind protection and safety features. They couldn't be used for competitive sports but were aimed at more affluent families who wanted a broom both for sports and travel.

It made sense to Joel, after all the non magicals used to make lots of different types of vehicles, some purely for leisure and often combinations of them. Joel ended up enjoying the flying a lot more than he thought he would. While he wasn't afraid of heights per say he was always wary of them but with Harry explaining they couldn't fall it put his mind at ease. After a leisurely spin around they returned to the ground where Ellie begged another go with Harry. Joel left them to it, deciding to do some maintenance on his weapons, Harry said he could provide some protections he found in some of the books, but he would need to carve runes into some parts of them. Joel didn't understand a lot of what he said just that it would improve the weapons, so it was good enough for him.

Harry and Ellie spent an exhilarating couple of hours racing across the surrounding countryside before setting down beside a lake and just spending time like a couple, repelling charms meant they were not disturbed.

"Thanks for this Harry, that was the most fucking awesome thing I've ever done," Ellie said snuggled into his side.

"Yeah it was nice to just have fun without worrying about anything but we better head back before Joel starts getting worried."

"Sure, but first," Ellie leaned up and kissed him. It took them thirty minutes to get back on the broom before heading back towards Joel but they both had happy smiles on their faces.

**Note: I wrote this quite a while ago but due to other commitments I never had the time to continue it. I thought I would post it now so I can also leave this quick note. I fully intend to complete this story, the whole covid-19 thing meant my workload almost tripled which left me very little time for anything else. Things aren't quite back to normal yet, but I should have another update within a week or two.**

**Thanks for understanding **


End file.
